POTENTİAL ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METAL AT SEDIMENT

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Şimşek A., Bakan G.

2ND INT. CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ( ICOEST), Belgrade, Sırbistan, 28 Eylül - 02 Ekim 2016, ss.30-35

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Belgrade
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Sırbistan
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.30-35
  • Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Sediments have an important role as a habitat for aquatic organisms to grow, evolve and establish 

in the ecological system. Sediment contamination is one of indicators for the prediction of 

potential ecological risks in aquatic systems. Heavy metals are among the most persistent of 

pollutants in the ecosystem such as water, sediments and biota because of their resistance to 

decomposition in natural condition. Toxicity appears after exceeding level of 

indispensability.Heavy metals become toxic when they are not metabolized by the body and accumulate 

in the soft tissues. Metals have low solubility in water, get adsorbed and accumulated on bottom 

sediments.Spreading heavy metals in the water column may subsequently be accumulated in sediment 

because of low solubility then become sensitivity indicator for aquatic organism. Ecological risk 

is assessed through the heavy metals concentration in the sediment. This research was undertaken in 

order to determine and analyze various heavy metals present in sediments taken from mid-Black Sea 

coast. Five heavy metals: cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) were 

determined by Perkin Elmer Optima 4300DV Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer 

(ICP-OES). Potential ecological risk indexes (Er) were used to study the pollution status of heavy 

metals in sediments and assess their potential ecological risk to the environment. Considering the 

potential ecological risk coefficient (Er) results calculated in accordance with the highest result 

metals Cr 0.068 , Cu 0,122, Zn 0,0146 , Cd 138.45 , Pb 0.037. According to this four heavy metals 

(Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb) under investigation in sediments reflected a low ecological risk to mid-Black Sea 

coast, but for Cd considerable ecological risk for the water body.The cause of pollution in 

mid-Black Sea could be associated with industrial and human activities. Strategies will be proposed 

that can be applied in order to prevent accumulation of heavy metals.

Key words: Ecological risk assessment, heavy metals,sediment.