Abstract
Trace metal cycling in aquatic environments is controlled largely by adsorption to suspended particulate material (SPM) (1), and this process is governed predominantly by Fe and Mn oxides contained in the SPM (2). Initial estimates of the relative contributions of Fe and Mn oxides to Pb adsorption indicated that the role of Fe oxides far overshadowed that of Mn oxides based on measurement of the Fe and Mn content of natural surface coatings and adsorption of Pb by abiotically produced, laboratory surrogate Fe and Mn oxides (3). However, Mn oxides in circumneutral aquatic environments are likely to be of biogenic origin (4), and biologically oxidized Mn may exhibit a greater specific surface area and thus greater trace metal adsorption than abiotic Mn oxides. To test this hypothesis, in this work Mn was oxidized by the bacterium Leptothrix discophora SS-1 and the surface area and Pb adsorption of the resulting Mn oxides were determined and compared to those properties of abiotic Mn oxides. Methods
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