The origin of aluminum flocs in polluted streams

Gerhard Furrer; Brian L. Phillips; Kai Uwe Ulrich; Rosemarie Pöthig; William H. Casey

doi:10.1126/science.1076505

The origin of aluminum flocs in polluted streams

Gerhard Furrer
, Brian L. Phillips
, Kai Uwe Ulrich
, Rosemarie Pöthig
, William H. Casey

Geosciences

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

228 Scopus citations

Abstract

About 240,000 square kilometers of Earth's surface is disrupted by mining, which creates watersheds that are polluted by acidity, aluminum, and heavy metals. Mixing of acidic effluent from old mines and acidic soils into waters with a higher pH causes precipitation of amorphous aluminum oxyhydroxide flocs that move in streams as suspended solids and transport adsorbed contaminants. On the basis of samples from nine streams, we show that these flocs probably form from aggregation of the ε-Keggin polyoxocation AlO₄Al₁₂(OH)₂₄(H₂ O)₁₂⁷⁺(aq) (Al₁₃), because all of the flocs contain distinct Al(O)₄ centers similar to that of the Al₁₃ nanocluster.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2245-2247
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	297
Issue number	5590
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1076505
State	Published - Sep 27 2002

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title = "The origin of aluminum flocs in polluted streams",

abstract = "About 240,000 square kilometers of Earth's surface is disrupted by mining, which creates watersheds that are polluted by acidity, aluminum, and heavy metals. Mixing of acidic effluent from old mines and acidic soils into waters with a higher pH causes precipitation of amorphous aluminum oxyhydroxide flocs that move in streams as suspended solids and transport adsorbed contaminants. On the basis of samples from nine streams, we show that these flocs probably form from aggregation of the ε-Keggin polyoxocation AlO4Al12(OH)24(H2 O)127+(aq) (Al13), because all of the flocs contain distinct Al(O)4 centers similar to that of the Al13 nanocluster.",

author = "Gerhard Furrer and Phillips, \{Brian L.\} and Ulrich, \{Kai Uwe\} and Rosemarie P{\"o}thig and Casey, \{William H.\}",

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AU - Furrer, Gerhard

AU - Phillips, Brian L.

AU - Ulrich, Kai Uwe

AU - Pöthig, Rosemarie

AU - Casey, William H.

PY - 2002/9/27

Y1 - 2002/9/27

N2 - About 240,000 square kilometers of Earth's surface is disrupted by mining, which creates watersheds that are polluted by acidity, aluminum, and heavy metals. Mixing of acidic effluent from old mines and acidic soils into waters with a higher pH causes precipitation of amorphous aluminum oxyhydroxide flocs that move in streams as suspended solids and transport adsorbed contaminants. On the basis of samples from nine streams, we show that these flocs probably form from aggregation of the ε-Keggin polyoxocation AlO4Al12(OH)24(H2 O)127+(aq) (Al13), because all of the flocs contain distinct Al(O)4 centers similar to that of the Al13 nanocluster.

AB - About 240,000 square kilometers of Earth's surface is disrupted by mining, which creates watersheds that are polluted by acidity, aluminum, and heavy metals. Mixing of acidic effluent from old mines and acidic soils into waters with a higher pH causes precipitation of amorphous aluminum oxyhydroxide flocs that move in streams as suspended solids and transport adsorbed contaminants. On the basis of samples from nine streams, we show that these flocs probably form from aggregation of the ε-Keggin polyoxocation AlO4Al12(OH)24(H2 O)127+(aq) (Al13), because all of the flocs contain distinct Al(O)4 centers similar to that of the Al13 nanocluster.

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SN - 0036-8075

VL - 297

SP - 2245

EP - 2247

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 5590

ER -

The origin of aluminum flocs in polluted streams

Abstract

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