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Assessment of minor elements contamination in Bistriţa River sediments (upstream of Izvorul Muntelui Lake, Romania) with the implication of mining activity

2014; Elsevier BV; Volume: 145; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.gexplo.2014.05.001

1879-1689

Andreea Elena Maftei, Ovidiu Gabriel Iancu, Nicolae Buzgar,

Radioactivity and Radon Measurements

Abstract This study is based on the distribution and risk assessment of pollution with minor elements in the surface sediments of the Bistriţa River, Romania (upstream Izvorul Muntelui Lake). The concentrations for the elements Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and As were measured by X-ray fluorescence and the results vary between 39 and 99 mg·kg − 1 for Cr, 11.2 to 38.5 mg·kg − 1 — Co, 16 to 48 mg·kg − 1 — Ni, 17 to 451 mg·kg − 1 — Cu, 50 to 1117 mg·kg − 1 — Zn, 0.11 to 2.38 mg·kg − 1 — Cd, 17 to 139 mg·kg − 1 — Pb and 8.2 to 170 mg·kg − 1 — As. Several indicators of contamination as pollution load index (PLI), contamination factor (CF), ecological risk index (RI), geoaccumulation index (I geo ) and priority index (P index ) were used to assess the degree of minor element pollution. The contribution of each chemical element in PLI for the entire length of the river, is the following: As (15.6%) > Cu (14.9%) > Zn (13.6%) > Cd (12.2%) > Pb (11.8%) > Co (10.7%) > Ni (10.6%) = Cr (10.6%). P index confirms the very high contamination with Cd, As and Cu in a single sampling point. CF for each element indicates only a local high contamination for Cu, Pb, Zn, As and Cd.