Experimentally, the sorption of Eu onto clay-rich sediments was very rapid in the first few seconds and slowed over an interval of minutes to hours. Rate curves were similar in shape to those of a-iron hydroxide, rather than of the oxalate-extracted residual sediment, indicating the importance of oxyhydroxide-like phases in the uptake of Eu onto red-clay sediments. For day-rich sediments, numerical modeling reproduced the general features of a series of diffusion experiments. To a first approximation, the penetration of Eu into a sediment proceeded by saturation of the sediment to the depth of penetration and produced a sharp drop-offin sorbed + dissolved Eu concentration at the diffusion front. Higher partition coefficients (Kv) resulted in greater sorbed + dissolved concentrations, but reduced penetration. For calcareous sediments, however, Eu concentrations at the surface were much higher than at depth, presumably due to the formation of an insoluble carbonate.
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