Assessment of the Pollution Status of Alluvial Plains: A Case Study for the Dredged Sediment-Derived Soils Along the Leie River

Abstract

The concept of an integrated multifunctional river management is gaining importance. For major rivers, restoring the contact between rivers and alluvial plains is an important goal as riparian areas have a specific role for several riverine processes. However, former and current human activities are an obstruction or a limitation for river restoration. We studied the 2 influence of former dredging activities along the river Leie on the alluvial plain quality. A soil survey and an archive query for reconstructing the history of dredging operations were conducted simultaneously. The geographical impact expressed as topographical changes and covering of the original soil profile and related processes and biota was large. The pollution status of dredged sediment-derived soils was found to be far from negligible: concentrations of Cd, Cr and Zn were, in 10% of the cases, higher than 20, 480 and 2800 mg kg

Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Surface Sediments of Six Major Chinese Freshwater Lakes

“…These lakes are located in areas where human activities are concentrated, and they play important roles in local industries, fisheries, agriculture, and tourism. Activities such as industrial production, agriculture, tourism, and urbanization have greatly affected the ecosystem health of the six lakes (Wang et al, 1998). Given this background, lake sediments, as a major environmental repository of heavy metals, have attracted increasingly more attention from researchers, especially in these six lakes (Table 2).…”

“…Heavy metals are inert contaminants and can accumulate in sediments. Th erefore, the sediments found in lake bottoms, stream beds, and estuaries, act as a major environmental repository for many contaminants discharged into water bodies (Chapman and Mann, 1999;Vandecasteele et al, 2004). In addition, heavy metals absorbed in sediments can be desorbed back into the water under certain conditions, causing secondary pollution (Bai et al, 2011;Niu et al, 2009;Segura et al, 2006).…”

Genetic variation in two land snails, Cepaea nemoralis and Succinea putris (Gastropoda, Pulmonata), from sites differing in heavy metal content

“…In Flanders (Belgium), an area of approximately 500 ha along waterways has historically been contaminated with heavy metals through the deposition of dredged sediments (Vandecasteele et al, 2004). These sedimented areas are well delineated and allow to examine how pollutants may alter the population genetic structure of organisms that inhabit these systems, because nearby, lesspolluted sites can act as reference plots.…”

“…Each locality comprized both a plot on a contaminated clayey and calcareous sediment-derived soil and a nearby, uncontaminated, reference plot along the rivers Leie and upper Scheldt (except for C. nemoralis in Noorderwal where no nearby uncontaminated plot with the species was found). Sediment-derived soils along the Leie and Upper Scheldt are mainly polluted with Cd, Cr and Zn (Table 1; Vandecasteele et al, 2004). At each polluted and unpolluted plot at least 25 individuals of each species were sampled from a few square meters.…”

An empirical approach to the determination of metal regional Sediment Quality Guidelines, in marine waters, within the European Water Framework Directive

“…Normalisation on the basis of fine-sediment content was performed by multiplying the metal concentration (μg·g −1 ) by the fine-sediment content (%), divided by 100. This normalisation was taken into account previously by Vandecasteele et al [45], VLAREBO [46] and VROM [47].…”