ACUTE TOXICITY OF SELENIUM (IV) AND SELENIUM (VI) TO FRESHWATER ORGANISMS
Date
1985-12Author
Brooke, Larry T.
Call, Daniel J.
Harting, Sandi L.
Lindberg, Carol A.
Markee, Thomas P.
McCauley, Dennis J.
Poirier, Steven H.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The primary sources of selenium in the environment are geologic and industrial. Selenium closely
resembles sulfur chemically, and sulfur or sulfide deposits of bismuth, copper, iron, lead,
mercury, silver, and zinc some- times contain as much as 20 percent selenium. It occurs in several
oxidation states, -4, -2, 0, +2, +4, +6; however, the +2 oxidation state is not known in nature.
Geologic formations sometimes containing selenium include sand stones, limestones, and shales.
Sandstones containing >100 mg•L-l selenium have been found in Wyoming. A limestone region of South
Dakota contains
>40 mg•L-l selenium in chalky shales and marls. Phosphate rocks associated with limestone may
contain from l to 300 mg·L-l selenium, suggesting the occurrence of selenium in phosphate
fertilizers. Shales have been mainly responsible for cases of selenium poisoning in animals in the
United States.
Industry releases selenium to the environment through combustion of coal and fuel oil, nonferrous
smelting and refining processes, metal refining, and glass manufacturing. Domestic coal average 3.2
mg,L-l selenium. Coal combustion accounted for 62 percent of the total industrial emission of
selenium in 1970. Smelting and refining of nonferrous metals produces slag heaps and tailing dumps
containing high concentrations of selenium. Solid wastes from metal mining and milling may be a
more serious source of selenium input to the environment than atmospheric fallout from base metal
smelting and refining.
Subject
selenium
acute toxicity
freshwater
organisms
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/82558Type
Technical Report