Chemical forms of copper, zinc, lead and cadmium in sediments of the northern part of the Red Sea, Egypt

Total concentrations and chemical forms of heavy metals in sediment samples from the Gulf of Suez and the northern part of the Red Sea, collected during January 2003, were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Maximum concentrations of 49.56, 65.42, 33.52 and 3.52 µg/g were recorded for total Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd respectively at Adabiya location. These may reflect the high contribution of land-based activities in the northern part of the Gulf. Also, high percentages of heavy metals were found in the residual fraction (Cu=78.61, Zn=77.10 and Pb=66.80%) while a high percentage of Cd was found in the carbonate fraction (45.82%). However, few or negligible percentages were recorded in the exchangeable fractions (Cu=0.51, Zn=1.57 and Pb=1.74%). Concentration of Cd in the exchangeable fraction was too low to be detected.

Copper and manganese forms in Lake Edku sediments, Alexandria, Egypt

Lake Edku is one of the Nile Delta lakes. It is subjected to contaminations by several anthropogenic materials such as trace elements and other wastes. The distribution of the different chemical forms of copper and manganese has been studied using sequential extraction techniques. Chemical analysis of the sediments shows that CaCO sub(3) ranged from 3.7% to 9.6% and organic matter from 3.06% to 8.11%. The results indicate that the distribution of manganese among the six chemical forms in the sediments of the lake obeys the following order: Mn-residual>Mn-carbonate>Mn-moderately reducible>Mn-organic form>Mn-exchangeable > Mn-easily reducible fraction. Also, the data revealed that more than 50% of the total manganese was found in the residual form, while the remainder was distributed among the other forms. In contrast, more than 70% of the total copper content was associated with the five chemical forms (exchangeable, carbonate, easily and moderately reducible and organic forms). Generally, the enrichment of manganese in the residual form revealed the important role in building up of clay minerals, while the distribution of copper among the different forms reflects an important role in biological and biochemical processes.