Fluorine cycle

Fluorine originates from the Earth’s crust, and its cycling between various sources and sinks is modulated by a variety of natural and anthropogenic processes.

Major anthropogenic sources include industrial chemicals and fertilizers, brick manufacturing, and groundwater extraction.

[4] Dissolved fluoride is present found in low abundances in surface runoff in rainwater and rivers, and higher concentrations (74 micromolar) in seawater.

[4] Fluorine can enter the atmosphere via volcanic activity and other geothermal emissions,[5] as well as via biomass burning and wind-blown dust plumes.

[3] Additionally, it can come from a wide variety of anthropogenic sources, including coal combustion, brick-making, uranium processing, chemical manufacturing, aluminum production, glass etching, and the microelectronics/semiconductor industry.

[5] Fluorine can be removed from the atmosphere via “wet” deposition, by precipitating out of rain, dew, fog, or cloud droplets, or via “dry” deposition, which refers to any processes that do not involve liquid water, such as adherence to surface materials as driven by atmospheric turbulence.

Fluorine cycle: F fluxes [ 1 ] are in Tg/yr and reservoir data [ 2 ] is in mg/kg. The major mechanisms that mobilize fluorine are chemical and mechanical weathering of rocks. Major anthropogenic sources also include industrial chemicals and fertilizers, brick manufacturing, and groundwater extraction. Fluorine is primarily carried by rivers to the oceans, where it can have a residence time of about 500,000 years. Fluorine can be removed from the ocean by deposition of terrigenous or authigenic sediments, or subduction of the oceanic lithosphere.