Distribution and source identification of lead in surface sediments of rivers Chaloos, Babolrood and Gorganrood in south of Caspian Sea

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Nour, Mazandaran

2 Environment department, faculty of natural resource and marine science, Tarbiat Modares University, Nour, Mazandaran, Iran

3 Department of Environment faculty of natural resource and marine science, Tarbiat Modares University, Nour, Mazandaran, Iran

Abstract

In this study, distribution of Lead in surface sediments of three important rivers in south of Caspian sea, including Chaloos, Babolrood and Gorganrood investigated, and also the source of this heavy metal in mentioned rivers determined. Sampling from surface sediments of 3 different points of every river including downstream, middle and upstream of rivers performed by van veen grab in 3 replicate in May 2016. The concentrations of Pb in sediments, determined by flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) after acid digestion, and source identification of Pb was performed in different geochemical fractions of sediment using sequential extraction technique. Results indicated that average concentration of Pb in surface sediments of rivers Chaloos, Babolrood and Gorganrood were 13.81, 15.30 and 17.68 µg/g dry weights respectively. According to results, Gorganrood was more polluted river and Challos was less polluted river in related to Pb concentrations. The results of source identification of Pb revealed that percentage of Lead in resistant fraction is more than nonresistant fractions suggesting natural origin for Pb in the studied rivers.

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