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Assessment of sediment quality of a tropical lake using sediment quality standards
Author(s) -
Swarnalatha K.,
Nair A.G.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
lakes and reservoirs: research and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.296
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1440-1770
pISSN - 1320-5331
DOI - 10.1111/lre.12162
Subject(s) - sediment , environmental science , bioaccumulation , pollution , water quality , aquatic ecosystem , cadmium , heavy metals , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental chemistry , geology , ecology , chemistry , biology , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry
Abstract Sediments are often reservoirs of contaminants in aquatic waterbodies, and their quality can be an indicator of the health of their ecosystems. Heavy metal pollution in sediments is highly significant because of their persistent and bioaccumulative nature. In this regard, sediment quality guidelines ( SQG ) are useful for categorizing sediment quality with respect to the contaminant level in them. An attempt was made in this study to assess the sediment quality of the Akkulam‐Veli ( AV ) Lake system on the basis of guidelines that incorporate assessment scales that differ in their approaches. Some link threshold levels of heavy metal concentrations on the basis of their likelihood to cause adverse effects, while others classify the sediment concentration ranges that correspond to the degrees of toxicity caused by them. The sediment quality of the study area was assessed by combining the available guidelines to formulate two new approaches in this study. Based on this approach, AV Lake is highly polluted with respect to chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb), while arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) are non‐polluting with a negligible potential for adverse effects.