TY - JOUR
T1 - Lead Isotopes as a New Tracer for Detecting Coal Fly Ash in the Environment
AU - Wang, Zhen
AU - Dwyer, Gary S.
AU - Coleman, Drew S.
AU - Vengosh, Avner
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. The authors would like to thank Ryan Mills from UNC for helping in the Pb isotope analysis. We thank three anonymous reviewers for their thorough and constructive comments that greatly improved the quality of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2019/12/10
Y1 - 2019/12/10
N2 - Lead (Pb) isotopes have been widely used to delineate Pb pollutants in the environment. Here, we present, for the first time, a systematic analysis of Pb isotopes in coal fly ash derived from coals from the three major coal-producing basins in the United States. Fly ash samples from Powder River Basin coals have higher 206Pb/207Pb ratios (1.2271 ± 0.0086, n = 7) than Appalachian Basin fly ash (1.2173 ± 0.0060, n = 16), while Illinois Basin fly ash samples are much more variable (1.2270 ± 0.0140, n = 22). The Pb isotopic signature of fly ash is distinguishable from that of major anthropogenic Pb sources in the United States, including leaded gasoline and paint, as well as the Pb isotope ratios of naturally occurring sediments and soils. Lead isotopic analysis of sediments from Sutton Lake in North Carolina, where other indicators have identified the occurrence of fly ash solids from unmonitored coal ash spills, shows a well-defined mixing between the Pb of unimpacted sediments and that of Appalachian Basin fly ash. This result further validates the applicability of Pb isotopes as a new tracer for detecting the occurrence of coal fly ash in the environment.
AB - Lead (Pb) isotopes have been widely used to delineate Pb pollutants in the environment. Here, we present, for the first time, a systematic analysis of Pb isotopes in coal fly ash derived from coals from the three major coal-producing basins in the United States. Fly ash samples from Powder River Basin coals have higher 206Pb/207Pb ratios (1.2271 ± 0.0086, n = 7) than Appalachian Basin fly ash (1.2173 ± 0.0060, n = 16), while Illinois Basin fly ash samples are much more variable (1.2270 ± 0.0140, n = 22). The Pb isotopic signature of fly ash is distinguishable from that of major anthropogenic Pb sources in the United States, including leaded gasoline and paint, as well as the Pb isotope ratios of naturally occurring sediments and soils. Lead isotopic analysis of sediments from Sutton Lake in North Carolina, where other indicators have identified the occurrence of fly ash solids from unmonitored coal ash spills, shows a well-defined mixing between the Pb of unimpacted sediments and that of Appalachian Basin fly ash. This result further validates the applicability of Pb isotopes as a new tracer for detecting the occurrence of coal fly ash in the environment.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074163530&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.estlett.9b00512
DO - 10.1021/acs.estlett.9b00512
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074163530
SN - 2328-8930
VL - 6
SP - 714
EP - 719
JO - Environmental Science and Technology Letters
JF - Environmental Science and Technology Letters
IS - 12
ER -