Heavy metal accumulation in a moderately polluted Ulhas estuary, Western India

摘要: The impact of industrialization and anthropogenic activities on the heavy metal accumulation in a moderately polluted Ulhas estuary, Mumbai is presented here. The estuarine pollution was evaluated based on the enrichment factor of heavy metals in four sediment cores collected between the river embayment and upstream locations. The results showed that the concentrations of Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Hg in the top 20 cm of the three downstream cores (Core 1, 2, 3) were very low, whereas core 4 collected in the upstream location showed moderate enrichment of all the metals. Most of the metals seem to have a common source such as effluents discharged from various anthropogenic activities. Statistical analyses showed that the metals in the first three cores have significant correlations with other metals as well as with organic carbon, clay, silt, or, sand. However, the fourth core was different, as it showed …