title: The effect of humic acids on the sequential extraction of metals in soils and sediments using ICP-AES and chemometric analysis.
abstract: The effect of humic acids on the sequential extraction of metals from various soils and sediments has been studied. A new multi-element extraction method optimised via experimental design has been employed. The method uses centrifugation to pass the extractant solution, at varying pH, through the sediment sample. The sequential leaches were collected and analysed by ICP-AES. Chemometric data processing was utilised to identify the composition of the physico-chemical components in order to characterise the sample. A sediment sample collected from Carnon River (Cornwall, UK) and a reference material (NIST 2711 agricultural soil) were spiked with humic acids and the sequential extraction scheme was used to monitor the changes in metal distribution. The method has proved a quick and reliable way to evaluate different sediment samples, and has potential as a new tool for environmental geochemistry analysis.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, Plymouth Environmental Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK PL4 8AA.
authors.forename: Rebeca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santamaría-Fernández
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Cave
authors.forename: Steve J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D006812:Humic Substances; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000379:methods; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D006812:Humic Substances; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014873:Water Pollutants