Edge plasmas, such as the tokamak scrape-off layer, exist as a consequence of a balance between cross-field diffusion and parallel losses. The former is usually anomalous, and is widely thought to be driven by strong electrostatic turbulence. It is shown that the anomalous diffusion affects the parallel ion transport by giving rise to a new type of thermal force between different ion species. This force is parallel to the magnetic field, but arises entirely because of perpendicular gradients, and could be important for impurity retention in the tokamak divertor.
