Occurrence, Sources and Pathways of Antimony and Silver in an Urban Catchment

Abstract

The recently introduced and increasing uses of silver (Ag) and antimony (Sb) have resulted in an increasing concern on their impacts to the environment. Nevertheless, little information can be found about anthropogenic impacts on the geochemical behaviour of such trace metals in urban river. In the course of our studies dedicated to the Seine River basin, France (67,400 km²), a large set of data was collected. Silver and antimony inputs to the Seine River Basin were estimated using three relevant sources: atmospheric deposition, waste water treatment plants effluents and combined sewer overflows. The Ag and Sb dissolved/solid partition in the river was also estimated on an annual basis. Results showed that Ag output river flux cannot be balanced with the input fluxes, unless to consider another source, which could be the erosion of contaminated soils. In opposite, the Sb budget is well balanced, with atmospheric deposition dominating the input fluxes to the river. The Ag and Sb geochemical behaviors (i.e., their dissolved/solid partition) are highly contrasted, especially for Sb, which dissolved/solid partition is even more fluctuant depending on the emission route.