Mobility of organic compounds in a soft clay-rich rock (Tégulines clay, France)

The migration of organic compounds in soils is a major concern several environmental issues. Contaminants display distinct behaviours as regards to their specific affinities towards constituents. retention mechanism hydrophobic by natural matter well known. ionizable mainly related oxides and clay minerals, even if less documented reductive media. In this work, we investigated the soft clay-rich sedimentary rock (Tégulines clay, France). aim was determine relative contributions sorbents on retention, eventual correlations with solutes properties. Both (toluene, benzene, naphthalene) hydrophilic species (adipate, oxalate, ortho-phthalate, benzoate) were investigated, using batch diffusion experiments. neutral aromatic correlates lipophilicity (log POW), confirming that absorption prevails, despite low content (≤0.5%). A quantified Tégulines clay. discrepancies between data acquired crushed solid samples are discussed. Low effective coefficients quantified. These values hint steric electrostatic exclusion, large pore size such “soft” clay-rock. Overall, dataset illustrates general scheme for assessing over wide variety compounds. This approach may be useful predictive modelling fate