Abstract:
Sediment cores collected from intertidal mudflats of Vaitarna estuary were investigated for distributions of sediment components, organic carbon, metals (iron, manganese, aluminum, copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, and lead) in bulk sediments, as well as clay-sized fraction (less than 2 mu m). Sorting of grain size under the influence of varying hydrodynamic energy conditions within Vaitarna estuary was discussed. Index of geoaccumulation indicated different levels of contamination for the studied metals at three locations. Pb and Zn were mainly found to be associated with clay fraction and showed exclusive lithogenic origin. While all the other metals showed signatures of anthropogenic origin in addition to that of lithogenic.
