Voltammetric studies of the organic association of copper and lead in two canadian inlets

Abstract

Anodic stripping voltammetry and gel filtration chromatography were used to examine the speciation and organic complexation of copper and lead in seawater. The extent of metal complexation in biologically different water types, the molecular weight ranges of the dissolved organic matter involved in metal-organic associations, and the metal uptake kinetics of these naturally occurring organic species were examined. Analyses of samples from Saanich and Narrows inlets, British Columbia, suggest organic complexation throughout the water column, including anoxic waters of Saanich Inlet. Several fractions of organic material from sedimentary interstitial water in the molecular weight range 500–10,000 were found to complex copper and lead, the concentration of complexing ligands decreasing with depth in the core. Rates of uptake of metals by organic material are slow, of the order of tens of minutes or longer.