Investigations on the Phenomena of Accumulation and Mobilization of Heavy Metals and Arsenic at the Sediment-Water Interface by Electrochemically Initiated Processes

Metals occur naturally and are commonly found as contaminants in areas where industrial and municipal effluents are discharged. Aquatic sediments/environments are often polluted by heavy metals due to the temporal variations in anthropogenic input of contaminants via atmospheric deposition, catchment runoff, effluent inflow and dumping from industrial transportation, mining, agricultural and waste disposal sources [EPA, 1989]. The transfer of contaminants associated with settling inorganic particulates and/or biotic detritus from the water column to the sediments, no disturbance of sediments by physical mixing, slumping or bioturbation after deposition, no post-depositional degradation or mobility of the contaminants and the establishment of a reliable time axis. Therefore, metal contamination in aquatic environment is one of the problems. Rivers, coastal waters, sediments, soils, etc. were mostly contaminated by industrial and mining activities. Recently, the metal discharged from the industries have been controlled in the most developed countries. Even so, till the heavy metals dispersed in river sediments still need to be dealt with. Mainly, characterization, transformation, transport and fate of metal contaminants in the sediment to the aquatic environment need to be studied, because the sediment has great capacity to accumulate the contaminants. Exploitation and utilization of mines discharges heavy metals into the environment and contaminates neighboring aquatic ecosystem...

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Technische Universität Dresden

Year

2005

Author dc:creator

• Shrestha, Reena Amatya

Contributors dc:contributor

• Fischer, Roland
• Köster, Rainer
• Rahner, Dietmar
• Langbein, Hubert

• Akkumulation
• Aquatisches Sediment
• Arsen
• Mobilisation <Bodenchemie>
• Schwermetall
• Umweltbelastung
• elektrochemisches Verfahren
• accumulation
• aquatic sediment
• arsenic
• ecological damage
• electrochemical process
• environment
• heavy metals
• mobilization