Selenium and its redox speciation in rainwater from sites of Valparaı́so region in Chile, impacted by mining activities of copper ores

The determination of the total concentration of selenium does not provide sufficient information about its toxicity and its bioavailability. The determination of its chemical forms is the basis for understanding the biogeochemical cycle in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and for detecting the species which might be toxic to biota. In this work we describe an analytical procedure to carry out the redox speciation of selenium present at ultratrace levels in rainwater from sites of Valparaı́so region in Chile, impacted by mining activities of copper ores. A simple preconcentration step of the rainwater sample on a rotavapor system, in vacuum at low temperature permits the concentration of the different redox selenium species until levels quantifiable by sensitive techniques such as differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry or by spectrometric techniques, based on the hydride generation and detection by atomic absorption or atomic fluorescence spectrometry. These techniques coupled to redox chemical reactions allow the redox speciation of selenium. The results show that the open evaporation system can be used to concentrate water samples when the aim of the analysis is the determination of the total selenium concentration. On the contrary, to carry out its redox speciation only the preconcentration performed on rotavapor system, in vacuum can be used. When synthetic solutions containing different redox species of selenium, at ultratrace levels, were slowly evaporated on open system, Se(II) and Se(IV) were oxidized. The optimized procedure was then applied to the selenium determination and its redox speciation in rainwater samples collected in sites impacted by mining activities of copper ores. It was found that the amounts of total selenium in rainwater, as copper, from Puchuncavi valley decrease exponentially with the distance from the source, indicating that these elements in this region arise from the industrial complex Las Ventanas. In the redox speciation of selenium, Se(IV) and Se(VI) were the species found in all rainwater samples analyzed, providing selenium in species which are most favorable for their uptake by the vegetation grown in these soils.