Vertical and horizontal variation of elemental contamination in sediments of Hooghly Estuary, India.
Hooghly Estuary along with the Sunderban mangroves forms one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. We investigated the vertical and horizontal distribution of elements at nine sampling locations in this estuary for assessing the degree of elemental contamination. The elemental concentrations were analyzed by an Energy Dispersive X-ray Flurosence spectrometer (EDXRF). A higher enrichment factor (EF) value of trace elements (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn) is evident considering all the sampling locations. Geo-accumulation index (Igeo) values of all the sampling locations and core depth reveals Cr and Cu are under Igeo Class I level of contamination. The value of the pollution load index (PLI) varies between 0.94-1.65 with maximum at Chemaguri and minimum at Haldi Estuary and Petuaghat. The overall variation in elemental concentration may be due to differential discharge pattern of storm water and agricultural run-off, industrial effluent and domestic sewage.
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India.
Somdeep
S
Ghosh
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India; UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, WB, India; Ion Beam Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar-751005, India.
Shidharth Sankar
SS
Ram
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India.
Madhurima
M
Bakshi
UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, WB, India.
Anindita
A
Chakraborty
UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, WB, India.
Mathummal
M
Sudarshan
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Electronic address: punarbasu_c@yahoo.com.
Punarbasu
P
Chaudhuri
D000383:Agriculture; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D007194:India; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014131:Trace Elements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Enrichments; Geo-accumulation; Hooghly Estuary; Pollution load; Sediment; Trace element