Contribution of organic complexation to Ni,Co and Cu speciation in surface waters: Implications for hydrogeochemicalsurveys

Organic materials dissolved in surface waters have long been implicated in metal binding and transport. In particular, fulvic and humic acids are considered to have a significant impact on speciation, total metal levels in solution and on the persistence of those metals. This work emphasizes the role played by dissolved organic matter (DOM) on the complexation of nickel, copper and cobalt and on its application to interpretation of surface water hydrogeochemical survey data. Waters from a number of well-known mining districts in Canada have been studied; in particular from Cobalt (Ontario), Sackville (New Brunswick) and Thetford Mines (Quebec). The diafiltration binding technique was used and shows that nickel, copper and cobalt are complexed significantly by DOM in natural waters. The tendency towards complexation was found to be Cu > Ni > Co. The binding functions determined were observed to be highly sensitive to pH and ligand:metal ratios; a gradation of binding site strength is evident.Data from some hydrogeochemical surveys conducted in the Kenora, Algoma and Ottawa districts of Ontario have been reinterpreted in the light of available data on the complexation behaviour of nickel, copper and cobalt. Occurrence of large water-borne anomalies unsupported by lake sediment loadings is most likely for cobalt and nickel and least likely for copper according to both field observations and experimental data. These studies provide good evidence for the formation of strong solution stable metal-organic species; the principal differences in persistence and migration behaviour are probably due to rates of coagulation and adsorption-precipitation processes which preferentially remove copper from solution. It is fair to conclude that these metals can be of use in mineral exploxation surveys using surface waters provided caution is exercised in interpretation of anomalies, especially in the absence of supporting sediment anomalies. Dissolved organic matter concentrations should always be determined when nickel, copper and cobalt are to be employed.