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The adsorption of cobalt on samples from a potential waste repository site in an arid region was investigated in batch experiments, as a function of various solution phase parameters including the pH and ionic strength. The samples were characterized using a range of techniques, including BET surface area measurements, total clay content and quantitative X-ray diffraction. The statistical relationships between the measured cobalt distribution coefficients (K-d values) and the solid and liquid phase characteristics were assessed. The sorption of cobalt increased with the pH of the aqueous phase. In experiments with a fixed pH value, the measured K-d values were strongly correlated to the BET surface area, but not to the amount of individual clay minerals (illite, kaolinite or smectite). A further set of sorption experiments was undertaken with two samples of distinctive mineralogy and surface area, and consequently different sorption properties. A simple surface complexation model (SCM) that conceptualized the surface sites as having equivalent sorption properties to amorphous Fe-oxide was moderately successful in explaining the pH dependence of the sorption data on these samples, Two different methods of quantifying the input parameters for the SCM were assessed. While a full SCM for cobalt sorption on these complex environmental substrates is not yet possible, the basic applicability and predictive capability of this type of modeling is demonstrated. A principal requirement to further develop the modeling approach is adequate models for cobalt sorption on component mineral phases of complex environmental sorbents. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.