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(...