Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Suspended Particulate Matters in Rivers
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 14608
Special Issue Editors
Interests: geochemistry of river discharge; fate of trace elements in river-sea mixing zone; geochemistry of ocean waters and bottom sediments; antropogenic factor in environment
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
River discharge is the most important source of dissolved and suspended (hard) sedimentary material delivering from continents to oceans. Dissolved and suspended material enter the river waters primarily as a result of the physical and chemical weathering of the rocks of the upper continental crust. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) consists of the particles of mineral and organic composition of natural, and from the beginning of 20th century, of anthropogenic origin, with a particle size greater than 0.22–0.45µm. The ratio between dissolved and suspended forms of chemical elements in river water depends on the concentration of SPM and the geochemical mobility of elements. On a global scale, the average SPM concentration is about 500 mg/L. This is the main reason for the great prevalence of the suspended form of the majority of elements over the dissolved form that allowed academic A.P. Lisitzyn to label the river discharge as “the Kingdom of suspended forms of elements” in contrast to “the Kingdom of dissolved forms” in the ocean, where the typical SPM concentration in deep waters is near 0.01mg/L.
The minerals and chemical compositions of SPM are very varied and tightly connected with each other and with the particle grain-size distribution. In general, among the minerals, the silicates (quartz, feldspars et al.) and clay minerals prevail. The latter are enriched by heavy metals and many other elements and therefore they play a very important geochemical and ecological role. The clay mineral composition depends on at least three main factors: the character of prevailed rocks in the watershed basin, its relief and climate. The first factor determines the composition of clay minerals, and the second one leads to the differentiation of fine particles at the transition from the mountain conditions to the plain ones. The differentiation consists in the increase in the plains of swelled minerals of the montmorillonite group in pellet fraction and in the increasing of a share of threeoctahedral layered silicates in comparison with dioctahedral ones.
The different climate zones differ by the prevalent type of clay minerals. If, in the cold temperately humid zones (tundra, taiga et al.), illite and chlorite prevail, then in the arid zones, illite and smectite dominate, while in the humid subtropical–tropical belt in SPM, there are a lot of kaolinite and absents chlorite.
The particulate place in the fate of the elements takes the processes in the transitional zone between river and sea (the so-called marginal filter—MF). The integral influence of all proceeded processes in this zone (sedimentation of SPM, coagulation, flocculation, sorption-desorption, dissolution, and so on) results in the cardinal transformation of riverine sedimentary material. This transition zone between continents and oceans is so very effective at trapping material of this global scale. SPM concentration is sharply decreased with the increase of salinity, while many dissolved elements are transformed actively into a suspended form due to flocculation of organoferric colloidal fraction of elements. As a result, almost one order decreased SPM flux and significantly transformed the discharge of dissolved elements, penetrating into the open waters of the receiving basin.
The detailed study of riverine SPM and of the processes of its transformation in the river-sea mixing zone will allow us to shed light on the total number of problems of global scale:
- To evaluate the recycling of the upper continental crust and geochemical balance of the processes of weathering;
- To estimate the denudation rates of continents and constrain the major parameters controlling these rates;
- To evaluate the anthropogenic influence on the river discharge and the receiving basins;
- To assess the factual volumes of riverine sedimentary materials delivering the open areas of the seas and oceans.
- To estimate the influence of climate change of biogeochemistry on river discharge
The number will consist of 5 sections;
1) Geochemistry of dissolved and suspended matter in river waters.
2) Mineralogy and grain-size composition of SPM in the rivers.
3) Processes of riverine sedimentary material in the river-sea mixing zone.
4) Anthropogenic factor in river discharge.
5) Climate change and river discharge.
Dr. Viatcheslav V. Gordeev
Dr. Alla V. Savenko
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Suspended particulate matter (SPM) in rivers—concentrations and composition
- Major and trace elements, organic carbon and nutrients in riverine SPM and their fluxes
- Dissolved matter in rivers—concentrations and forms of major and trace elements, organic carbon, nutrients and their fluxes
- Mineralogy of SPM in the rivers of different climatic zones
- The river-sea mixing zone and the processes of element transformation
- Interactions between SPM in rivers and the ores of the watershed basin
- Role of anthropogenic factor in river discharge
- Influence of climatic change on biogeochemistry of river discharge
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