Acid-available particulate trace metals associated with suspended sediment in the Humber rivers: a regional assessment
✍ Scribed by Colin Neal; Helen P. Jarvie; Takashi Oguchi
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 346 KB
- Volume
- 13
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6087
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✦ Synopsis
Information on the distribution of acid-soluble Al, Ba, Co, Cr, Ni, Fe, Mn and Pb associated with suspended sediment is presented for the major Humber rivers draining into the North Sea. The data analysed are based on two major data sets: the Land±Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) and Environment Agency (EA) regional monitoring programmes. Trace metal particulate concentrations show a large variation over space and time. Three types of pattern are observed. First, Ba and Pb are highly and linearly correlated and they have an order of magnitude higher concentrations to the north of the region owing to localized bedrock mineralization, historic mining activity and the associated contamination of ¯oodplain areas during the 18th and 19th centuries (type 1). Secondly, there are strong interelement relationships between Al, Co, Ni and Fe (and to a lesser extent Mn) and between these elements and suspended sediment concentrations (type 2) and the points for all the rivers lie on the same straight line. For type 2 elements, concentrations are enriched by a factor of three within the industrially aected rivers in the central and southern parts of the area: the rural Swale in the north of the area also has enhanced concentrations of type 2 elements in relation to higher suspended sediment concentrations. Thirdly, chromium shows about a thirty-fold enrichment in the industrial rivers (type 3). The relationships between all the trace metals are represented by a simple three-component mixing scheme involving natural background materials, industrially generated particulates and resuspended ¯oodplain sediments contaminated by historic mining activity.
The need for (a) focused studies to identify and describe key type localities for speci®c industrial and urban pollution sources and (b) further exploration of the wealth of information contained within the EA database, is highlighted.