Determination of selenium bioavailability to a benthic bivalve from particulate and solute pathways
No abstract available.
Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to N.A. Steinberg.
No abstract available.
Dissimilatory in situ selenate reduction to elemental selenium in sediments from irrigated agricultural drainage regions of western Nevada was measured at ambient Se oxyanion concentrations. Selenate reduction was rapid, with turnover rate constants ranging from 0.04 to 1.8 h -1 at total Se concentrations in pore water of 13 to 455 nM. Estimates of removal rates of selenium oxyanions were 14, 38, and 155 μ mol m -2 day -1 for South Lead Lake, Massie Slough, and Hunter Drain, respectively.
We measured potential rates of bacterial dissimilatory reduction of 75 SeO 4 2− to 75 Se 0 in a diversity of sediment types, with salinities ranging from freshwater (salinity = 1 g/liter) to hypersaline (salinity = 320 g/liter and with pH values ranging from 7.1 to 9.8. Significant biological selenate reduction occurred in all samples with salinities from 1 to 250 g/liter but not in samples with a salinity of 320 g/liter. Potential selenate reduction rates (25 nmol of SeO 4 2− per ml of sediment added with isotope) ranged from 0.07 to 22 μmol of SeO 4 2− reduced liter −1 h −1 . Activity followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics in relation to SeO 4 2− concentration ( K m of selenate = 7.9 to 720 μM). There was no linear correlation between potential rates of SeO 4 2− reduction and salinity, pH, concentrations of total Se, porosity, or organic carbon in the sediments. However, potential selenate reduction was correlated with apparent K m for selenate and with potential rates of denitrification ( r = 0.92 and 0.81, respectively). NO 3 − , NO 2 − , MoO 4 2− , and WO 4 2− inhibited selenate reduction activity to different extents in sediments from both Hunter Drain and Massie Slough, Nev. Sulfate partially inhibited activity in sediment from freshwater (salinity = 1 g/liter) Massie Slough samples but not from the saline (salinity = 60 g/liter) Hunter Drain samples. We conclude that dissimilatory selenate reduction in sediments is widespread in nature. In addition, in situ selenate reduction is a first-order reaction, because the ambient concentrations of selenium oxyanions in the sediments were orders of magnitude less than their K m s.