Silver, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, lead, and zinc were determined monthly during 2004-2008 at 11 sites in the KuraAraks river system, Azerbaijan. Suspended fractions of the elements were studied at the five sites experiencing the highest load. Metal concentrations varied moderately at each site but differed substantially between sites. Sites near the borders with Armenia and Georgia were most polluted, both with respect to soluble concentrations and percentage transported in suspended form. Lower parts of the Kura river were shielded from metal contamination by an upstream reservoir acting as a metal trap. Corresponding removal was not evident in Araks, its main tributary, where particularly high concentrations of arsenic were observed. At the most contaminated sites, more than 60% of cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc was transported in suspended form whereas arsenic and molybdenum occurred mainly in soluble form. Dynamics of metals in the Kura-Araks water/sediment system should be further studied to meet future problems.

An assessment of radiologically enhanced residual materials generated during oil and gas production in near Baku, Azerbaijan, was conducted. Distribution of the 228 Ra/ 226 Ra Activity Ratio (AR) with depth in a sediment core from radium lake was examined. The dashed line represented ingrowth assuming that 228 Ra was below equilibrium with 232 Th in the young sediments near the top and reached equilibrium at a depth around 10 cm. In this study the radium isotopic data are used to provide estimates of the age of formation of the radiobarite contaminant and age of oil field lake. The results indicate that, the upper two layers in the core (up to 4 cm) contain fallout 137 Cs so at least these layers are no older than about 40 yrs. Formation waters that are sent to disposal ponds may consist of accumulated heavy hydrocarbons, paraffin, inorganic solids, and heavy emulsions. We report here results of chemical and radiochemical measurements from formation waters separated from oil pumped from approximately 700 m below ground near Baku, Azerbaijan. Our results also include data from a formation water storage pond ("radium lake") where the waters are temporarily stored after oil is separated and then eventually disposed of by pumping into the Caspian Sea. We also analyzed the associated sediment for radiochemical components. Our study was intended to investigate how radium fractionated between the pond water and sediments.

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