Definition of baseline metal concentrations for assessing metal enrichment of sediment from the south-eastern Cape coastline of South Africa

Abstract

Assessing metal contamination of sediment is complicated since metals are a ubiquitous, naturally occurring component of sediment, their concentrations in un-contaminated sediment can vary by orders of magnitude over relatively small spatial scales, and naturally occurring and anthropogenically introduced metals tend to accumulate in the same areas. To meaningfully interpret sediment metal data, factors affecting metal concentration variability in sediment must first be compensated for before naturally occurring and anthropogenically introduced concentrations can be differentiated. This can be accomplished through the procedure of geochemical normalisation. Baseline metal concentration models developed through this procedure can then be used to interpret metal concentrations measured in sediment from areas where anthropogenic metal inputs are suspected.

Authors

Categories