Environmental applications of ICP-MS for simultaneous determination of trace elements and statistical data analysis

Abstract

Water samples collected from two lakes separated from each other by the cascade of four small lowland reservoirs were subjected to analyses in order to compare contamination levels in these ecosystems. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine eight elements: Al, As, Cd, Cr, Li, Mn, Sb, and Zn. Statistical methods were applied in order to assess the degree of self-purification of water, during its flow from Swarzedzkie Lake to Malta Lake. Obtained distinctly, lower concentrations of all studied elements in Malta Lake than in Swarzedzkie Lake indicated the role of self-purification processes, which occurred in the distance between these lakes.

Bioaccumulation of selected metals in bivalves (Unionidae) and Phragmites australis inhabiting a municipal water reservoir

“…The lake remains degraded and hypertrophic with anoxia observed at the bottom during the summer season (Kowalczewska-Madura and Gołdyn 2006). Main sources of potential metals contamination in the Maltański Reservoir include combustion processes and transport as well as the Lake Swarzędzkie, which is heavily polluted with metals as already indicated by Gramowska et al (2010)…”

“…It is a shallow (mean depth of 3.1 m, maximum depth of 5.0 m) and a small (area 64 ha) water body with an approximate volume of 2.1 million m 3 (Gramowska et al 2010). In the summer season, it is intensively used for national and international canoeing and rowing competitions and serves as a bathing area for city residents.…”

“…Before the river flows into the Maltański Reservoir, first it flows through the Lake Swarzędzkie (surface 93.7 ha) and four small man-made reservoirs—Antoninek, Młyński, Browarny, and Olszak (Kowalczewska-Madura 2003; Gramowska et al 2010). Their surfaces are 7.2, 9.2, 7.1, and 3.3 ha, respectively; the mean water residence times are 0.5, 1.7, 1.4, and 0.6 days, respectively; and their maximum depths are 0.8, 2.3, 2.2, and 1.8 m, respectively (Gramowska et al 2010). Until 1991, municipal and industrial sewage were discharged directly into Lake Swarzędzkie.…”

Environmental conditions in the Donggi Cona lake catchment, NE Tibetan Plateau, based on factor analysis of geochemical data

“…All factors with eigenvalues >1 are used for further study, since they theoretically explain more variance than one single input variable (Gramowska et al, 2009), following the Guttman-Kaiser criterion (Yeomans and Golder, 1982). In this paper, we used R-mode factor analysis that investigates relations between different variables, as distinct from Q-mode factor analysis that studies relations between samples (Shogenova et al, 1999).…”

“…Performing similarly, these groups give a better indication of background processes (Tripathi, 1979;Gramowska et al, 2009). Reimann et al (2002) published the first critical review of factor analysis on environmental data.…”