DETERMINATION OF IRON IN SEAWATER BY FLOW INJECTION-ANALYSIS USING IN-LINE PRECONCENTRATION AND SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETECTION

A highly sensitive flow injection analysis (FIA) method for determining the concentration of iron in seawater has been developed. The technique is a modification of the catalytic batch method previously reported by Hirayama and Unohara. By optimising the chemistry for FIA and incorporating in-line preconcentration of the iron from seawater onto a column of resin-immobilised 8-hydroxyquinoline, the detection limit of the method has been reduced to 0.025 nM. The typical precision of the method for a 0.35 nM Fe sample is 2.5% (n = 6). The method has been used at sea in its preconcentration mode to determine iron in open ocean water samples from the equatorial Pacific and the North Atlantic. It has also been used in a direct injection mode for hydrothermal plume samples from around Loihi Seamount in the Central Pacific.