Title:
Tracing Germanium Contamination from Coal-fired Power Plants Down the Chattahoochee-Apalachicola System: Implications for the Toxic Metalloids Arsenic and Selenium

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Author(s)
Froelich, Philip N.
Lesley, Patrick
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Editor(s)
Hatcher, Kathryn J.
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Abstract
Dissolved germanium (Ge) concentrations in rivers receiving ash pond effluents from coal-fired power plants (CFPP) in the Southeastern U.S. are enriched up to two orders of magnitude above natural levels. This anthropogenic Ge-signal has a large dynamic range that provides a unique "coal-fired" tracer that may be a harbinger for the other toxic metalloids As, Se and Sb. The average point-source Ge-escape factor for all river-CFPP systems for which we have coal flows is about 0.1 mg-Ge per kg-coal combusted. Scaling this Ge-escape factor to the coal ash systematics of other metalloids suggests several of Georgia's river systems may be approaching toxic levels, especially for Se.
Sponsor
Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology
Date Issued
2001-03
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Proceedings
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