Environmental Transport Model of Heavy Metals

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Abstract
A general model TOHM was developed to predict the transport of heavy metals originating from the stack emissions of a coal-fired electric generating facility into a final environmental sink. The metals studied were Zn, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Hg, produced from a hypothetical plant situated in Southern Utah. TOHM is non-site specific, and is the result of interfacing submodels describing atmospheric diffusion, soil erosion, precipitation, and soil chemistry. Examples are presented of model predictions for sediment delivery and heavy metal distribution and delivery to Lake Powell from the area of stack emission deposition. The environmental impact over a 25-yr period of the above mentioned coal fuel facility, evaluated using these model predictions, shows Hg and Cd to be of concern, while indigenous soil levels of Zn, Cr, and Pb greatly outweigh contributions expected from the generating facility. The model is as yet unvalidated.

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