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Speciation of Some Heavy Metals in Sediments of the Pennington River, Bayelsa State, Nigeria | Chapter 8 | Theory and Applications of Chemistry Vol. 2

Speciation helps in the identifications and quantification of the defined geochemical fractions, forms or phases  in  which  an  element  exists  in  the  environment.  Speciation  in  sediment  compartment  is  a significant step to understand the potential environmental risk, distribution, mobility and bioavailability of pollutants. The total heavy metal concentrations of some environmentally toxic metals in sediments of the Pennington River System, Bayelsa state, Nigeria was examined. The concentrations of heavy metals  in  each  fraction  were  determined  using  a  ANALYST  400  Perkin-Elmer  AAS.  The  mean concentrations  (mg/kg)  for  the  six  metals  in  dry  season  sediment  samples  were:  0.14±0.17(As), 0.39±0.55(Co), 2.43±5.06(Cu), 26.82±22.19(Fe), 0.69±1.10(Pb), and 1.22±1.19(Zn), while the mean metal   concentrations   (mg/kg)   in   wet   season   samples   were:0.11±0.18(As),0.37±0.6(Co), 2.07±4.35(Cu),  26.65±24.79(Fe),  0.61±1.08(Pb),  and  1.11±1.00(Zn)  respectively.  Speciation  study applying  the  five-stage  sequential  extraction  scheme  revealed  that  As,  Co,  and  Pb  in  sediment prevails mostly in exchangeable fraction. Cu and Zn were more prevalent in residual fraction, while Fe was found more in residual and Fe/Mn-Oxide fractions. In an attempt to infer anthropogenic input from natural input, comparison with sediment quality guideline (SQGs) and ecotoxicological sense of heavy metal  contamination  was  employed.  The  concentration  of  the  studied  heavy  metals  in  Pennington River  System  does  not pose  a  threat  to  the  sediment  dwelling  fauna  and  anyone  who  consumes aquatic animals, particularly fish, from the Pennington River. According to SQGs, the studied heavy metals of the Pennington River sediments were under the category of non-polluted. Speciation is a powerful and versatile technique for predicting the degree of contamination risk of a river system. In this  present  study,  all  heavy  metals  investigated  are  relatively  stable  under  normal  conditions  of Pennington River system. This means that there is a low source of pollution arriving to the Pennington River  system.  Iron  was  found  to  be  the  highest  occurring  heavy  metal  and  arsenic  was  the  least occurring  heavy  metal in  this  study.  Furthermore,  there  is  no heavy  metal pollution threat pose  to sediments  dwelling  fauna  and  anyone  who  consume  aquatic  animals,  particularly  fish  from  the Pennington River system.  To preserve the unpolluted state of the Pennington River system it remains important that allochthonous inputs are devoid of heavy metals.

Author(s) Details

Kaywood E. Leizou, Ph. D
Department of Chemical Sciences, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Nigeria.

Read full article: http://bp.bookpi.org/index.php/bpi/catalog/view/49/269/418-1
View Volume: https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/tac/v2
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