Metal fractionation study on bed sediments of River Yamuna, India

The pollution of aquatic ecosystem by heavy metals has assumed serious proportions due to their toxicity and accumulative behavior. The toxicity and fate of the water borne metal is dependent on its chemical form and therefore quantification of the different forms of metal is more meaningful than the estimation of its total metal concentrations. In this study fractionation of metal ions on bed sediments of River Yamuna has been studied to determine the eco-toxic potential of metal ions. The investigations suggest that copper have a tendency to remain associated with residual, reducible and carbonate fractions. The Risk Assessment Code reveal that about 30–50% of lead at most of the sites exist in exchangeable fraction while 30–50% of cadmium at almost all the sites is either exchangeable or carbonate bound and therefore comes under the high risk category and can easily enter the food chain. Most of the copper is in immobile fraction at Delhi while at other sites, a sizable portion (10–30%) is found in carbonate fraction thus posing medium risk for the aquatic environment. Fractionation pattern of zinc shows low to medium risk to aquatic environment.