Geochemistry of major and trace elements in core sediments of sunderban delta, India: An assessment of metal pollution using atomic absorption spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The paper documents a detailed account of spatial distribution and possible sourcesof major elements along with heavy metals in fine grained fractions (<63 μm) of coresediments collected from seven sites in Sunderban wetland, northeastern part of Bay ofBengal, India. This work aims to evaluate the fluvio-marine and geochemical processesinfluencing the trace element distribution and to check the suitability of employing heavymetals data in evaluating biological effects on the basis of sediment quality guidelines.Both Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrophotometer (ICPMS) and AtomicAbsorption Spectrometry (AAS) were employed to determine the elementalconcentration in acid-digested sediment samples. Trace element concentrations wereavailable at different core depths with an erratic pattern of distribution. An overallenrichment of majority of the elements has been recorded at the site Kakdwip, locatedalong the main stream of Ganges, and this can be attributed to domestic and industrialeffluent discharge, intensive fishing and boating activities coupled with use of antifoulingpaints. In contrast, the site Canning, located further east in the mudflat of Matla River ischaracterized by minimum trace element content. An abrupt variations of Mn, V, Cd andU were encountered at the site Jambu Island- an offshore island facing Bay of Bengal.For Cu, Ni and As, a smaller proportion of the samples had exceeded the effects rangelow(ER-L) concentrations indicating that the dataset would be suitable for future use inevaluating predictive abilities of sediment quality guidelines.