Bromide in the Natural Environment: Occurrence and Toxicity

Bromide ion is widely used as a tracer to study water and solute transport because it does not adsorb to negatively charged soil minerals. Therefore is moves approximately as fast as water in soil. This property and the small natural background concentration make Br - and ideal tracer. It is much better than Cl - , which behaves similarly, but which is ubiquitous in the environment. Since Cl - is a component of several fertilizers, it usually is found in agricultural soils in concentrations too high to allow its use. When using chemicals in the environment, one must consider their fate and toxicity (...)