Element Concentrations Toxic to Plants, Animals, and Man G F 0 L 0 G I C A L S U R V E Y B I I. I. F T IN Element Concentrations Toxic to Plants, Animals, and Man * By LARRY P. GOUGH, HANSFORD T. SHACKLETTE, and ARTHUR A. CASE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1466 An appraisal of the toxicity hazard to plants, animals, and man from natural and manmade element concentrations of environmental concern UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1979 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretory GEOLOGICAL SURVEY H. William Menard, Director Library of Congress catalog-card No. 79-66277 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Stock Number 024-001-03201-5 CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Aluminum .............................................................................................................................. 4 Antimony ................................................................................................................................ 7 Arsenic .................................................................................................................................... 8 Beryllium .............................................................................................................................. 11 Boron ...................................................................................................................................... 13 Bromine .................................................................................................................................. 14 Cadmium .............................................................................................................................. 15 Chlorine ................................................................................................................................ 17 Chromium .............................................................................................................................. 19 Cobalt .................................................................................................................................... 20 Copper .................................................................................................................................... 22 Fluorine ................................................................................................................................ 24 Iodine ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Lead ........................................................................................................................................ 28 Lithium .................................................................................................................................. 31 Manganese ............................................................................................................................ 33 Mercury ................................................................................................................................ 35 Molybdenum ........................................................................................................................ 36 Nickel .................................................................................................................................... 38 Selenium ................................................................................................................................ 40 Silver ...................................................................................................................................... 44 Sulfur .................................................................................................................................... 46 Thallium ................................................................................................................................ 49 Tin .......................................................................................................................................... 51 Uranium ................................................................................................................................ 52 Vanadium .............................................................................................................................. 55 Zinc ......................................................................................................................................... 56 Other elements that possibly present a toxicity hazard .......................................... 59 Barium .......................................................................................................................... 59 Germanium ................................................................'.................................................. 59 Magnesium .................................................................................................................. 60 Rubidium ...................................................................................................................... 61 Tellurium ...................................................................................................................... 61 Titanium ........................................................................................................................ 61 Tungsten .........................................................................................^.....,....................... 62 Zirconium ..................................................................................................................... 63 Rare earth elements (lanthanides) ................................................................................ 63 Cerium .......................................................................................................................... 64 Lanthanum .................................................................................................................. 64 Dysprosium, gadolinium, holmium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, terbium, and thulium ............................................ 64 Erbium, europium, and lutetium ............................................................................ 65 References cited .................................................................................................................. 65 Appendix .............................................................................................................................. 78 ni ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS TOXIC TO PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND MAN By LARRY P. GOUGH, HANSFORD T. SHACKLETTE, and ARTHUR A. CASE INTRODUCTION Investigators have long recognized the importance of certain ele­ ments, commonly called "minerals," in the diet of humans and animals and in the soil that supports plants, in that these elements are essen­ tial for the life or optimum health of the organisms. Deficiencies of 20 to 24 elements in animals and man (Frieden, 1972) and of 13 to 18 elements in plants (Epstein, 1965) have been recognized. At the same time, an understanding of the responses of these organisms to the insult of toxic concentrations of these and other elements also has been of interest. More recently, concern has arisen regarding the effects of an organism's exposure to the more subtle chronic and subchronic concentrations of certain elements that industrial and other human activities are releasing into the environment. Many studies of element toxicities have been made, and reports of these studies are scattered through the biological, medical, geological, and other literature. The present requirement for preparing environ­ mental impact statements before certain types of industrial and other operations are undertaken necessitates that judgments be made re­ garding the potential health effects, if any, of elements that may be released into the environment by these operations. Although these judgments may be outside the fields of the physical and biological scientists who must predict environmental impacts that are likely to occur, certain valid estimations can be made inadequate information is available. The purpose of this outline is to provide some specific data on the known toxicity levels of certain elements that may reach poten­ tially dangerous concentrations in the environment. We have limited our emphasis to toxic levels that are acquired by organisms through absorption, ingestion, and inhalation; intravenous, subcutaneous, in­ tramuscular, or intraperitoneal injections of toxic elements can hardly be considered of environmental concern. We have given but little emphasis to the effects of occupational exposure to hazardous chemical compounds. 2 ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS TOXIC TO PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND MAN Much has been written on the toxicities of some elements such as lead, mercury, and selenium, and our chief task with these elements was that of selecting the most useful reports to include. For some other elements, reports of toxicities are few and often in obscure publica­ tions. The elements selected for this discussion are those that may be environmentally important and especially those for which we have quantitative data. Some of the information in this outline is from unpublished data in our files; most statements, however, are identified by reference citations. The elements