ABSTRACT:A study was conducted to investigate the trace metal pollution of water and sediments of downstream of Tsurumi River, Yokohama, Japan. Twenty samples of water and sediments were collected from the river starting from Tokyo bay side up to the junction point of the Yagami River. Results show that the mean concentrations of chromium, cupper and nickel in water greatly exceed (>100 times) the surface water standard. The concentration of molybdenum and lead was also higher than standard values while iron and manganese was lower than that of surface water standard. The mean concentration of zinc, cupper, cadmium, lead, chromium, vanadium, bromine and iodine was 381.1, 133.0, 1.0, 40.8, 102.9, 162.0, 71.5 and 10.6 µg/g sediments, respectively and was greatly exceed the average worldwide shale concentrations and average Japanese river sediment values. However, mean concentration of arsenic, nickel and strontium was 11.0, 36.6 and 164.6 µg/g sediments, respectively which was lower than the average shale value. Other analyzed trace metals, including barium, zirconium, rubidium, yttrium, tin, antimony, cesium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium were detected in river sediments; the concentration of which was close to the Japan's river sediment average values. Pollution load index values of the sites of the studied area ranged from 1.24 to 7.65 which testify that the river sediments are polluted. The PLI value of the area was, however, high (6.53) as the concentration of trace metals like zinc, cupper, cadmium, lead and chromium were very high and were the major pollutants.

Water and sediment samples were collected from 20 location of the Buriganga river of Bangladesh during Summer and Winter 2009 to determine the spatial distribution, seasonal and temporal variation of different heavy metal contents. Sequential extraction procedure was employed in sediment samples for the geochemical partitioning of the metals. Total trace metal content in water and sediment samples were analyzed and compared with different standard and reference values. Concentration of total chromium, lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, nickel, cobalt and arsenic in water samples were greatly exceeded the toxicity reference values in both season. Concentration of chromium, lead, copper and nickel in sediment samples were mostly higher than that of severe effect level values, at which the sediment is considered heavily polluted. On average 72 % chromium, 92 % lead, 88 % zinc, 73 % copper, 63 % nickel and 68 % of total cobalt were associated with the first three labile sequential extraction phases, which portion is readily bioavailable and might be associated with frequent negative biological effects. Enrichment factor values demonstrated that the lead, cadmium, zinc, chromium and copper in most of the sediment samples were enriched sever to very severely. The pollution load index value for the total area was as high as 21.1 in Summer and 24.6 in Winter season; while values above one indicates progressive deterioration of the sites and estuarine quality. The extent of heavy metals pollution in the Buriganga river system implies that the condition is much frightening and may severely affect the aquatic ecology of the river.

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Being more sensitive to salt stress among the cereals, growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been habitually affected by salinity. Although, several practices have evolved to sustain the growth of rice under salinity, the enormous role of calcium (Ca 2?) as a signalling molecule in salt stress mitigation is still arcane. Considering this fact, an experiment was performed aiming to explicate the mechanism of salt-induced growth inhibition in rice and its alleviation by exogenous Ca 2?. At germination stage, 10 mM and 15 mM CaCl 2 primed rice (cv. Binadhan-10 & Binadhan-7) seeds were grown in petri dishes for 9 days under 100 mM NaCl stress. At seedling stage, 9-day-old rice seedlings grown on sand were exposed to 100 mM NaCl alone and combined with 10 mM and 15 mM CaCl 2 for 15 days. This research revealed that salinity radically slowed down growth of rice seedlings and Ca 2? treatment noticeably improved growth performances. At germination stage, 10 mM CaCl 2 treatment significantly increased the final germination percentage, germination rate index (in Binadhan-7), shoot, root length (89.20, 67.58% in Bindhan-10 & 84.72, 31.15% in Bindhan-7) and biomass production under salinity. Similarly, at seedling stage, 10 mM CaCl 2 supplementation in salt-stressed plants enhanced shoot length (42.17, 28.76%) and shoot dry weight (339.52, 396.20%) significantly in Binadhan-10 & Binadhan-7, respectively, but enhanced root dry weight (36.76%) only in Binadhan-10. In addition, 10 mM CaCl 2 supplementation on salt-stressed seedlings increased the chlorophyll and proline content, and oppressed the accretion of reactive oxygen species thus protecting from oxidative damage more pronouncedly in Binadhan-10 than Binadhan-7 as reflected by the elevated levels of catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activity. The 15 mM CaCl 2 somehow also enhanced some growth parameters but overall was less effective than 10 mM CaCl 2 to alleviate salt stress, and sometimes showed negative effect. Therefore, supplementary application of calcium-rich fertilizers in saline prone soils can be an effective approach to acclimatize salt stress and cultivate rice successfully.

The geochemical distributions of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) were examined in sediments collected from Old Nakagawa River (NR), Tokyo, Japan. A widely used 5-step sequential extraction procedure was employed for the fractionation of the metals and the concentrations were measured in the liquid extracts by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The association of Cd (76-98%) and Zn (48-67%) were found highest with AEC (adsorbed/exchangeable/carbonate) phase, Cu (45-60%) and Pb (44-73%) with amorphous Fe oxyhydroxide phase and the maximum fractionation of Cr was in both crystalline Fe oxide (12-60%) and amorphous Fe oxyhydroxide phase (15-60%). For retention by amorphous Fe oxyhydroxide minerals, the observed stoichiometric gradient was: 1.52 for Cu, 1.23 for Pb, 2.25 for Cr and 3.09 for Zn. Corresponding values for association with crystalline oxides and sulphides and organics were an order of magnitude greater than those for amorphous oxyhydroxide, indicating a greater affinity of trace metals for these phases. The total concentration ranges of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn in NR sediments were 2.86-16.95, 551.7-3953.1, 340.6-1565.3, 136.9-385.9 and 931.4-3650.1 µg g^-1, respectively. The observed order of potential trace metal mobility in the aquatic system was: Cd>Zn>Pb>Cu>Cr. Organic carbon contents in sediment samples were comparatively high (mean 5.48%) and the X-ray diffraction (XRD) study detected the presence of several clay minerals, those are likely to be major host of trace metals in sediments. The sediments of NR was considered to be polluted on the basis of unpolluted sediments and geochemical background values with respect to Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn. According to the enrichment factors (EFc), most of the sites have several times higher values of trace metals than the standard. The study revealed that the pollution in sediments of NR could be linked to anthropogenic activities such as industrialization, urbanization, deposition of industrial wastes and others