The Environmental Fate and Behaviour of Antimony in the Coastal Floodplain System of the Macleay Catchment, with Comparisons to Arsenic

Abstract

Antimony (Sb) has been used throughout human history, but recently anthropogenic emissions and recognition of harmful effects on humans and the environment has led to concern over the lack of knowledge about the environmental fate and behaviour of this metalloid. The coastal floodplain of the Macleay Catchment in northeastern NSW, Australia, has been shown to be subject to mining related enrichment of Sb and to a lesser extent, As. The aims of this thesis were to elucidate aspects of Sb behaviour in this system, and to compare the findings with the behaviour of As. The extent of the enrichment of both metalloids in the soils of the floodplain, and the concentrations in selected pastures and surface waters were determined. Possible influences on mobility and availability of both metalloids in selected soils and under specific management regimes were also examined. In addition, the sorption behaviour of Sb (V) was investigated for 2 floodplain soils and 2 dominant soil phases. A review of the available literature indicated that the aims of this thesis had not been addressed previously.