title: Heavy metals in the bottom sediments of the Furo of Laura estuary, Eastern Amazon, Brazil.
abstract: The Furo of Laura is an economically important river in the Amazon estuary. Thus, in the present study, we evaluated the metal distribution (Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Fe, Ni, and Mg) in the bottom sediments of this river. The sediments were sampled at four points every 2months for a year with an Ekman-Birge sampler. After microwave acid digestion, the metal levels were determined by optical emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma. The particle size and organic matter content influenced the concentration of the metals. The sediments were not enriched by the analyzed metals; the estuary therefore retained the characteristics of an uncontaminated environment, thus serving as a reference environment for comparison.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Aquicultura e Recursos Aquáticos Tropicais, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, Brazil.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Instituto Sócio Ambiental e dos Recursos Hídricos, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, Brazil. Electronic address: lourdes.santos@ufra.edu.br.
authors.forename: M L S
authors.initials: MLS
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Seção de Meio Ambiente, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, Brazil.
authors.forename: K C F
authors.initials: KCF
authors.lastname: Faial
authors.affiliation: Seção de Meio Ambiente, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, Brazil.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.affiliation: Seção de Meio Ambiente, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, Brazil.
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental, Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa, 1, 66075-110, Pará, Brazil.
authors.forename: J A R
authors.initials: JAR
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Aquicultura e Recursos Aquáticos Tropicais, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, Brazil.
authors.forename: I P R T
authors.initials: IPRT
authors.lastname: Cunha
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D010316:Particle Size; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Geochemistry; Reference environment; Vigia