Metal pollution assessment of sediment and water in the Shur River

Abstract

Intensified industrialization and human activities have resulted in the release of various contaminants into the environment. Among them, heavy metals are often present as a result of mining, milling and industrial manufacturing. In the present investigation, bulk concentrations Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Fe, Ca and Al in Shur River (Iran) bed sediments and water around the Sarcheshmeh copper mine were measured from several sample locations. In addition, partitioning was assessed to determine the proportions of metals in different forms. The degree of sediment contamination was evaluated using an Enrichment Factor (EF) and geo-accumulation index (I (geo)) and a newly developed pollution index (I (POLL)). Elevated metals in sediment and water were found to be correlated with areas of the river that were proximal to direct and indirect mining activities. Cadmium and Zn showed the highest pollution index. Cluster analysis was performed in order to assess heavy metal interactions between water and sediment. Chemical partitioning studies revealed that organic metallic bonds were not significantly present in the sediment of the Shur River.

Urbanization impact on metals mobility in riverine suspended sediment: Role of metal oxides

“…Assembled background values are shown on Table 2 and formulae is shown in Equation 1. The EF values should be evaluated keeping in mind the shortcomings of this approach (Reimann and de Caritat, 2005;Karbassi et al, 2008). Here, local background values were preferred to continental crust concentrations, due to the specificity of the carbonaceous Seine River basin geology.…”

Analytical Relevance of Trace Metal Speciation in Environmental and Biophysicochemical Systems

“…This procedure that was originally developed as a pivotal heavy metal speciation scheme using extracting agents has evolved as the foundation for recent advances in fractionation speciation schemes. The sequential extraction or fractionation schemes are a very useful method, for characterizing solid phases associated trace elements in soils, sediments or particulates [29][30][31][32][33]. It must be pointed out that the extracting reagents employed in speciation analysis are chosen based on their selectivity and specificity towards a particular physicochemical species of trace metal [28].…”

Preliminary assessment of heavy metals in water, sediment and macrophyte (Lemna minor) collected from Anchar Lake, Kashmir, India

“…Though some of the heavy metals like Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn are essential as micronutrients for the life processes in animals and plants in very small amounts, other metals like Cd, Cr, Hg and Pb have no known physiological activities and exhibit extreme toxicity even at trace levels (Nicolau et al 2006;Kar et al 2008). In freshwater bodies, there is always presence of some amount of heavy metals derived mostly from the mineralogy and weathering (Samarghandi et al 2007;Karbassi et al 2008). However, anthropogenic activities such as mining, long-term disposal of untreated and partially treated effluents containing metals as well as metal chelates, indiscriminate use of heavy metal-containing fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture fields, wet and dry fallout of atmospheric particulate matter, urban run-off and direct solid waste dumping (Kraft et al 2006 ;Krywult et al 2008) can accelerate the rate at which these heavy metals are added to the water bodies.…”