Fractionation of Inorganic Phosphates in Calcareous Sediments

Abstract The selectivity of current fractionation schemes for inorganic phosphates in sediments has been tested on pure compounds. Results indicate that effective removal of calcium carbonate through ammonium chloride extraction is necessary in order to achieve satisfactory discrimination between iron‐ or aluminum‐bound phosphates and calcium phosphates. A simple extraction procedure based on this information has been applied to the sediments of Lake Brielle.