Determination of gold in sea water by radioactivation analysis

Abstract

Small portions of sea water were irradiated with slow neutrons in a Harwell Pile and the radioactivity from the gold-198 produced was compared with that from a standard gold solution. The gold contents found depended on the distance from the shore that the samples were taken, and varied from about 400 p g per cubic metre for English coastal water to about 15 pg per cubic metre for water from the north-w-estern limit of the Bay of Biscay.

Gold content of water, plants, and animals

“…In one locality, during a spring bloom of phytoplankton, a decrease of about 15 percent in dissolved silicate contents occurred, and the gold contents decreased 60 percent (Hummel, 1957). Peshchevitskii, Anoshin, land Erenburg (1965) believe that gold in sea w4ter is present mostly in the form of the comj>lex anion (AuCl;), although this was contrao/ to Haber's {1928) conclusion th~t gold was ~ociated with particulate matter.…”

“…E~:::: :::::::::=============== ~ J:g::: =t ~~~~~~~>======:::::::::::~~::::::::::::: and seas vary in the amount of gold that they contain, but so do samples taken simultaneously "side by side" (Hummel, 1957). Haber {1927), probably hoping to find larger amounts of gold in sea water near goldfields, analyzed more than 100 samples of sea water from San Francisco Bay, just off Sausalito and Oakland.…”

“…Farther from shore, 40 miles west of San Francisco, the ocean water contained 0.068 ppb gold (Weiss and Lai, 1963). Hummel (1957) found 0~015 to 0.5 ppb gold in sea water; Caldwell (1938), Stark (1943) Putnam. Stark noted that sample3 of water from the Adriatic Sea contained an average of 0.02 ppb gold and from the Mediterranean Sea, 0.4 ppb.…”

Analytical methods in oceanography I. Inorganic methods

“…There are almost as many "methods" of avoiding contamination and loss as there are investigators and the literature is replete with seemingly contradictory statements. Hummel (1957) has reported the loss of up to 75% of the gold from sea water after storage in polyethylene for 21 days. Koczy ( 1950) reported similar decreases for uranium stored in glass.…”

The distribution of rare earth, precious metal and other trace elements in Recent and fossil deep-sea manganese nodules.

“…Hence, 0.48ppb Au is unaccounted for in the nodule. The explanation may be that some of the Au contributed with the detritus (perhaps Au contributed by organic particles which are believed by HUMMEL (1957) to be a significant carriers of Au in the marine environment) was solubilized in the environ ment of the manganese nodules.…”