Kinetics of trace metal sorption to estuarine suspended particulate matter

Complex multi-step processes, with equilibration times varying from minutes to weeks, are observed to control trace metal sorption to particulate matter. A three-step first order reversible kinetic model is used to fit mesured data for sorption and desorption over periods of up to 200h. This is likely to perform better than the equilibrium partitioning approach under the rapidly changing environmental conditions which exist in estuaries.