Contamination features and health risk of soil heavy metals in China

Heavy metal pollution in surface water and sediment: A preliminary assessment of an urban river in a developing country

Assessment of heavy metal contamination in sediments of the Tigris River (Turkey) using pollution indices and multivariate statistical techniques.

Impacts of sewage irrigation on heavy metal distribution and contamination in Beijing, China

Enrichment and geo-accumulation of heavy metals and risk assessment of sediments of the Kurang Nallah—Feeding tributary of the Rawal Lake Reservoir, Pakistan

Most estuaries receive a high heavy-metal input from industries. This is reflected in the relatively high levels found in numerous estuarine organisms and in sediments. Many indicators have been suggested for facilitating the detection of heavy-metal pollution, but the problems in using these indicators to evaluate the metal loading of estuaries are considerable. Variations in species composition, and conditions at different sites, differences in season of sampling, and age of organism, as well as different metal levels in different parts of the organism, make the interpretation of results difficult. The levels reported here, similar to those in other unpolluted estuaries, have been used to suggest a baseline concentration for heavy metals in estuaries. The concept of a baseline is fundamental to the formation of a “Biological Quality Index” and “Pollution Load Index,” and a formula for such an index is suggested and tested at a preliminary level against published data for an English and a European estuary.

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Problems in the assessment of heavy-metal levels in estuaries and the formation of a pollution index

Two complementary indices of estuarine quality have been developed as a management tool and to facilitate intercomparison of diverse estuarine types. The indices used here have been devised as relatively quick and inexpensive and taking into account both the biological and the environmental information from a systematic survey of the intertidal regions of an estuary.

C. R. Harris

Papers

Problems in the assessment of heavy-metal levels in estuaries and the formation of a pollution index

The Application of Two Simple Indices to Irish Estuary Pollution Status