Trace metal distribution coefficients in the Mersey Estuary, UK: evidence for salting out of metal complexes.

An examination of partition data for trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn) from a number of independent studies conducted in a highly contaminated, organic-rich estuary (Mersey, UK) indicates an increase in the sediment-water distribution coefficient, KD, with increasing salinity for all metals with the excepton of Cd. This behavior is not consistent with inorganic speciation calculations or empirical modeling studies in other estuaries, which predict an inverse relationship between KD and salinity due to competitive adsorption and complexation with seawater ions. The data are, however, well-defined by an empirical model based on the salting out of neutral organic chemicals and yield salting constants in the range 0.7-2.0 L mol(-1). It is suggested that trace metals are complexed by and, subsequently, neutralize organic ligands, and that the resulting neutral assemblages are salted out, possibly via electrostriction. Examination of sorption date from other environments suggests that the effect may be more general in highly contaminated or organic-rich estuaries, and that a specific pool of relatively large, but undefined ligands, is mainly responsible.