Fractionation of CU and PB in sediments of San Simon Bay (NW - Spain)

AutorAlexandra M. Ramírez-Pérez - Esther de Blas
Páginas85-92
85
FRACTIONATION OF Cu AND Pb IN SEDIMENTS
OF SAN SIMON BAY NW, SPAIN
Alexandra M. Rámirez-Pérez a, * y Esther de Blas a
a Dpto. Biología Vegetal y Ciencia del Suelo, University of Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain
*Corresponding author: E-mail address: alexandra@uvigo.es
I. INTRODUCTION
Heavy metals are natural elements present in the environment and
differ in concentrations along the earth crust. Most of them have increased
their concentration due to human activities, generating a high pressure
mainly in coastal environments (Fang et al., 2005). Heavy metals represent
a serious environmental problem due to their persistence, high toxicity,
mobility, and ability to be incorporated and accumulated into food chains,
which are also of importance for risk assessment and pollution remediation
(Voegelin et al.; 2003, Nemati et al., 2011). In addition, they have a low
solubility and a high capacity to adsorb on the particulate material
(Brezezinka et al., 1984; Salomons et al., 1987; Dai et al., 1995),
accumulating into sediments. This adsorbed heavy metals could be
remobilized and released back to overlying waters due to diagenetic
processes, causing a deterioration of water quality (Du Laing et al., 2008;
Vukovic et al., 2014; Zhong et al., 2006). Chemical interactions, mobility,
biological availability and potential toxicity of metals is a function of their
chemical forms and partitioning within or on sediment matrices (Salomons
& Förstner, 1984). The identification and quantification of the forms in
which a metal is present in the sediments help to understand geochemical
processes, to evaluate potencial impacts and the bioavailability of the
metals.

Para continuar leyendo

Solicita tu prueba

VLEX utiliza cookies de inicio de sesión para aportarte una mejor experiencia de navegación. Si haces click en 'Aceptar' o continúas navegando por esta web consideramos que aceptas nuestra política de cookies. ACEPTAR