Synergic Reactions in the Estuarine Environment leading to Modulation of Aluminium metal during Transport Processes (in Cochin Estuary)

The research work which was carried out to Synergic Reactions in the Estuarine Environment leading to Modulation of Aluminium metal during Transport Processes (in Cochin Estuary)Estuaries are considered as sink or source for terrestrial and various anthropogenically generated materials. These include naturally occurring elements Al, Si, Fe or trace inorganics or industrial pollutants of different types. There have been reports on both positive and negative impacts by the introduction of above materials into the ecosystem.This thesis deals with the trace metal Aluminium (Al) whose average concentration (about 8%) in the earths crust is surpassed only by that of Oxygen and Silicon. There can be no doubt that most of the land derived materials reaches the ocean through rivers via estuaries. An important aspect noticed here is that the concentration of dissolved Al is much lower in sea water than in river water.On critically analysing Cochin estuary, for the entire cycles, covering monsoon, postmonsoon and premonsoon, the following salient features are documented as hereunder. Dissolved Al exhibits high and variable trends in Cochin estuary, the influencing parameters being salinity, SPM, pH and dissolved Si. A general profile showed removal in upper/mid estuary followed by regeneration in the mid/lower estuary and further decrease seawards in the southern/northem arms.Distribution appears to be a function of freshwater input, the monsoon season exhibiting very high concentrations throughout the estuary. As the river discharge decreased with the progress of seasons, dissolved Al concentration also decreased, the metal limiting itself to the upper and mid estuary.

Department of Physical Oceanography,School of Marine Science, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Cochin University of Science and Technology