Application of geoaccumulation index and enrichment factor for assessing metal contamination in the sediments of Kafrain Dam, Jordan

Abstract

An investigation is reported of the degree of metal pollution in the sediments of Kafrain Dam and the origin of these metals. Fourteen sampling sites located at Kafrain Dam were chosen for collecting the surface, cutbank, and dam bank sediment samples. The sediment samples have been subjected to a total digestion technique and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometer for metals including Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, and Fe. XRD analyses indicate that the sediments of Kafrain Dam are mainly composed of calcite, dolomite, quartz, orthoclase, microcline, kaolinite, and illite reflecting the geology of the study area. The enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (I(geo)) have been calculated and the relative contamination levels assessed in the study area. The calculations of I(geo) are found to be more reliable than of those of EF. The enrichment of metals in the study area has been observed to be relatively high. I(geo) results reveal that the study area is not contaminated with respect to Ni, Co, Cr, Cu, and Mn; moderately to strongly contaminated with Pb; and strongly to extremely contaminated with Cd and Zn. The high contents of Pb, Cd, and Zn in the study area result from anthropogenic activities in the catchment area of the dam site. These sources mainly include the agricultural activities, sewage discharging from various sources within the study area (effluent of wastewater treatment plants, treated and untreated wastewaters, and irrigation return water), and the several industries located in the area. Degrees of correlations among the various metals in the study area are suggested by the results and the intermetallic relationship.

Application of geoaccumulation index and enrichment factor for assessing metal contamination in the sediments of Hara Biosphere Reserve, Iran

“…A comparison of the mean metal concentrations in the 0.063-mm fraction surface sediments with the corresponding values of these metals in the average shale (Turekian and Wedepohl, 1961) reveals that surface sediments are polluted with Pb, Cd and Ni in the Hara Biosphere Reserve. In contrast, the locations studied had Fe concentrations less than those for average shale, which indicates that there are no major sources of pollution for Fe in the study area (Ghrefat et al, 2011). According to Bowen (1979), the levels of Fe, Ni, Pb, and Cd in uncontaminated sediments and soils are 26,000, 19, 19 and 0.35 ppm respectively.…”

“…Ni is one of the most oil components and it can demonstrate oil pollution in the Hara Biosphere Reserve. Also Fe has been used as a conservative tracer to differentiate natural from anthropogenic components (Schiff and Weisberg, 1999;Baptista Neto et al, 2000;Ghrefat et al, 2011).…”

Assessment of heavy metal contamination in the sediments from the Yellow River Wetland National Nature Reserve (the Sanmenxia section), China

“…Certainly, some agricultural activities also contribute to these kinds of contamination (Cheng et al 2012). These heavy metals are easily available to biotic components of the river's ecosystem of the Sanmenxia section and possibly enter into the food chain under suitable physicochemical conditions (Varol 2011;Ghregat et al 2011;Cui et al 2011). In addition, this kind of contamination could be flowed to the downstream with the flow-sediment regulation (Bai et al 2012) which has happened every year since 2007.…”

“…Sediment has also been recognized as one of the important indicators of metal contamination for ecosystem quality assessment (Giusti 2001;Birch and Taylor 2002;Rate et al 2000) and has drawn wide attention in recent years (Liu et al 2009;Chen et al 2009Chen et al , 2000He et al 2009;Zhao et al 2008). Those metals can be released by various processes under favorable conditions, and aquatic organisms might be exposed to a high level of heavy metals, which may cause potential health risks to the local inhabitants through food webs (Ghregat et al 2011;Cui et al 2011).…”

Contamination assessment of arsenic and heavy metals in a typical abandoned estuary wetland—a case study of the Yellow River Delta Natural Reserve

“…The constant 1.5 is introduced to minimize the potential effects of variations in the background values that could be attributed to lithological variations (Gao et al 1998;Ghrefat et al 2011). The sevenlevel classification of I geo is defined as in Table 2 (Müller 1981;Macias et al 2006;Zamani-Ahmadmahmoodi et al 2013).…”