PDFAbstract: Heavy metal pollution of sediments may have significant effects on environment and human health. Evaluation of heavy metal contamination (Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, Cr) of 758 samples of surface sediments collected from the Danube River between Km 347 and Km 182 during May 2012 - April 2015 has been studied to represent the spatial distribution of heavy metals in sediments. The average concentrations of the studied metals have decreased in the following order: Zn>Cr>Cu>Ni>Pb>Cd. Their spatial distribution was analyzed using multivariate statistics. From the statistical analysis, significant correlations between Cu and Zn are highlighted, suggesting similar sources or similar geochemical processes that control the occurrence of these metals in sediments.
Keywords: heavy metals, Danube River, contamination of sediments, sediment quality assessment, spatial distribution, statistical analyses
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Mihaela Ilie, Florica Marinescu, Ana-Maria Anghel, Gina Ghiță, György Deák, Marius Raischi, Constantin Cirstinoiu, Monica Matei, Stefan Zamfir . (2016) Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metal Contamination in Surface Sediments from the Danube River . Environmental Science, 1 , 230-237
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