Measurement and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals accumulated in sediment and water collected from Gomishan international wetland, Iran

• Published in: Water science and technology Vol. 84; no. 6; pp. 1498 - 1508
• Main Authors: Kalani, Nazanin, Riazi, Borhan, Karbassi, Abdolreza, Moattar, Faramarz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London IWA Publishing 15-09-2021
• Subjects: Acids; Cadmium; Chromium; Contamination; Ecological risk assessment; Erbium; Heavy metals; Hydrology; Lead; Metal concentrations; Nickel; Pollutants; Precipitation; Quality control; Risk assessment; Sediment; Sediment samplers; Sediment samples; Sediments; Soil contamination; Soil quality; wetland; Wetlands; Iran; Caspian Sea; Turkmenistan
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2021.317

Abstract
This study aimed to measure and ecologically assess heavy metals, including As, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Ni in water and sediment samples taken from Gomishan, an international wetland located in Golestan, Iran. Four sampling stations were selected to cover all parts of the wetland. The analyses of the heavy metals were performed by ICP-MS. Based on the content of the heavy metals in the sediments, the values of risks for individual heavy metals, as Er, and for total heavy metals, as IR, were estimated. Igeo and EF also presented the soil quality in terms of accumulated contamination. The average content of the heavy metals in water was 23.12, 4.14, 10.04, 6.71, and 94.48 μg/L for As, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Pb, respectively. The heavy metal concentrations in sediments were decreased in the following order: Pb (2130 ppb) > As (655 ppb) > Cr (295 ppb) > Ni (148.8 ppb) > Cd (148.8 ppb). The potential risk values for individual heavy metals were in the low range, Er < 40, except for Cd, which mostly posed a moderate ecological risk. The values of EF and Igeo showed that the sediments sampled from the Gomishan wetland were minimally enriched and contaminated. As the Gomishan wetland has a moderate risk of heavy metal contamination, conservative and monitoring activities should be performed.