Kinetics of metal ion sorption on lake sediments - approaches to the analysis of experimental data

Two different mathematical techniques have been used to analyse data obtained from a set of experiments in which a range of radiotracers were sorbed onto two contrasting lake sediments. The advantages and disadvantages of the two techniques have been evaluated. Both approaches to the analysis were capable of providing rate parameters which can be used to determine the mobility and rate of removal of trace species from the water column. However, the values of the parameters were often different, depending upon which approach was used and, in some cases, even the number of sorption processes identified was method dependent.