Partitioning of Metal Contaminants between Bulk and Fine-Grained Fraction in Freshwater Sediments: A Critical Appraisal
Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička Cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Cécile Grosbois
Minerals 2021, 11(6), 603; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060603
Received: 9 April 2021
/
Revised: 28 May 2021
/
Accepted: 1 June 2021
/
Published: 3 June 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Aspects of Particle Size Distribution and Mineralogical Composition of Soil and Sediment)
The distribution of six common metal contaminants (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) in the bulk (<2 mm) and fine fractions (<63 µm) of freshwater sediments was compared to conclude on the long-existing dilemma which fraction should be used in the investigation of the metal contamination. The environments included in the study (24 rivers, 8 lakes) were very different with respect to sediments origin and composition and they provided a good review of the possible scenarios. For the river sediments, particularly those having >40% of sand fraction, metal concentrations were up to seven times higher in the fine fraction, implying the necessity for considering sand dilution effect in compositional data analysis. The same samples were also characterized with higher organic matter content (OM) in the fine fraction. Lake environments were characterized by fine-grained sedimentation and the difference between metal concentrations in the bulk and fine fraction was not so expressed. The preparation of samples for the geochemical and compositional data mining should be carried out in accordance with the sedimentological characteristics of the investigated environment. It implies that the insight into geological setting and determination of sedimentological characteristics should be an obligatory part of monitoring/investigating metal contamination in freshwater sediments. For river sediments, the analysis of the fine sediment fraction or correction for sediment lithology are advisable.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
freshwater sediments; metal contaminants; bulk sediment; fine fraction; river
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
- Supplementary File 1:
ZIP-Document (ZIP, 354 KiB)
MDPI and ACS Style
Vdović, N.; Lučić, M.; Mikac, N.; Bačić, N. Partitioning of Metal Contaminants between Bulk and Fine-Grained Fraction in Freshwater Sediments: A Critical Appraisal. Minerals 2021, 11, 603. https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060603
AMA Style
Vdović N, Lučić M, Mikac N, Bačić N. Partitioning of Metal Contaminants between Bulk and Fine-Grained Fraction in Freshwater Sediments: A Critical Appraisal. Minerals. 2021; 11(6):603. https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060603
Chicago/Turabian StyleVdović, Neda, Mavro Lučić, Nevenka Mikac, and Niko Bačić. 2021. "Partitioning of Metal Contaminants between Bulk and Fine-Grained Fraction in Freshwater Sediments: A Critical Appraisal" Minerals 11, no. 6: 603. https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060603
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
