Assessment of the metal pollution in surface sediments of coastal Tasaul Lake (Romania)

Abstract

Forty-three surface sediment samples were collected in September 2019 from Tasaul Lake (Black Sea coast, Romania) to examine the metal distribution patterns, assess the level of metal contamination, and identify the pollutant sources. The determined mean metal concentrations were as follows: Al 49,772 mg/kg, Zn 84.40 mg/kg, Cr 83.70 mg/kg, V 76.45 mg/kg, Ni 42.53 mg/kg, Cu 34.27 mg/kg, Pb 26.30 mg/kg, As 12.49 mg/kg, and Hg 0.06 mg/kg. The metals in the surface sediments of Tasaul Lake displayed moderate spatial variation, with higher metal concentrations mainly occurring in the south and southeast (As, Pb, and Hg), southwest (Cu and Zn), and west of the lake (Cr, Ni, and V). Heavy metal contamination in sediments is assessed using pollution indices such as enrichment factor, contamination factor, and pollution load index. The highest CFs and EFs were determined for As (moderate to high pollution), followed by Pb (low to moderate pollution). The Cu, Zn, and Hg pollution indices showed values corresponding to low pollution levels, while Ni, Cr, and V presented the lowest indices, suggesting unpolluted sediments. Multivariate statistical analyses were performed to identify the origin of the analyzed heavy metals. Cr was predominantly sourced from lithogenic components, Ni and V originated from both natural and anthropogenic sources, and As, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Hg showed mainly anthropogenic sources such as agricultural runoff, domestic and industrial wastewater discharges, and quarrying activities.

Pollution indices assessment of metal concentrations in Karabuk soil samples

“…The validity of PCA was assessed using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test and Bartlett's test. Principal components (PCs) with eigenvalues greater than one were deemed relevant (Vasiliu et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2014). To determine the contribution of elements to a specific group, components with factor loadings > 0.6, 0.4-0.6, and 0.3-0.4 were classified as highly, moderately, or weakly associated with elements in that group, respectively.…”

Spatio-temporal monitoring of potentially toxic elements in Lagos harbour water and its health risk implications

“…Potential toxic metals such as Pb, Cd, Fe, Ni, and Cu with high coefficient values are highly correlated, and this showed that these metals would most likely originate from industrial and domestic discharges that contained these heavy metals [39]. The second component (PCA 2) accounts for about 20% variance and that Si, Al, Cr, Sn variation in the heavy metal concentration in water in location D, Si, Al and Cr are highly correlated and concentrated in that location, which suggests that these metals could originate from natural sources, while the Sn contaminant could be from ship repairing and other anthropogenic sources [57].…”

Мікробіологічна Та Вірусологічна Характеристика Морської Води Одеської Затоки Та Акваторії Острова Зміїний

“…Через насиченість глибинних шарів води сірководнем там існують лише деякі види анаеробних бактерій. Найбільші ріки Чорноморського басейну (Дунай, Дніпр, Південний Буг та Дністр) визначають стан живих біологічних ресурсів усього Чорного моря та вносять ~80% забруднюючих речовин [111,131,132,135].…”