Dissolved Trace Metals in the Tay Estuary

• Published in: Estuarine, coastal and shelf science Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 421 - 434
• Main Authors: Owens, R.E., Balls, P.W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Elsevier Ltd 01-04-1997; Elsevier
• Subjects: biogeochemistry; Brackish; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; estuaries; Exact sciences and technology; Geochemistry; Marine and continental quaternary; Mineralogy; Scotland coast; seasonal variations; Silicates; Surficial geology; trace metals; Water geochemistry; United Kingdom; Scotland; Great Britain; Tay Estuary; Western Europe; British Isles, Scotland, Tayside, Dundee; ANE, British Isles, Scotland, Firth of Tay; ANE, British Isles, Scotland, Tayside, Dundee; Scotland coast; trace metals; estuaries; biogeochemistry; seasonal variations; particulate matters; turbidity; metals; manganese; spatial distribution; dissolved materials; zinc; nickel; salinity; adsorption; estuarine environment; Europe; concentration; lead; Ammonia; Rotaliacea; suspended materials; foraminifera; phosphates; cadmium; sediment-water interface; Invertebrata; Protista; sewage; Rotaliina
• ISSN: 0272-7714; 1096-0015
• DOI: 10.1006/ecss.1996.0133

Dissolved trace metals have been studied over an annual cycle in the relatively pristine Tay estuary (Scotland). The absence of a major anthropogenic signal has enabled some of the more subtle natural processes controlling trace metal distributions to be identified.
Concentration ranges of dissolved metals in the Tay are similar to, or lower than, those observed in more industrialized estuaries. All metals behave non-conservatively in the Tay.
Interactions with biogenic and detrital particulate phases are important in controlling dissolved trace metal concentrations. The degradation of organic matter appears to be particularly important for Cu. Removal of dissolved metals was observed in the turbidity maximum zone; a simple model was used to demonstrate that this could be accounted for by adsorption onto suspended particulate matter.
At high salinity, coincident peaks of all six metals with ammonia and phosphate are attributed to sewage inputs from Dundee at the mouth of the estuary.