Determination of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn) by ICP-OES and their speciation in Algerian Mediterranean Sea sediments after a five-stage sequential extraction procedure

Surface sediment samples (n = 18) were collected from the Algerian Mediterranean coasts and analyzed for seven metals using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry in order to asses the distribution and bioavailability of metals and to study the anthropogenic factors affecting their concentrations. Sediment samples were size-fractionated into three sizes: 1,080–500 (coarse), 500–250 (medium), and <250 mm (fine). Bulk sediments were subjected to both sequential extraction and total digestion to evaluate the reliability of the sequential extraction procedure (SEP), while the fractions have been only sequentially extracted for metals speciation. The metals were sequentially extracted into five phases namely exchangeable (P1), carbonates (P2), Fe–Mn oxides (P3), organic (P4) and residual (P5). Metal recoveries in sequential extractions were ±20% of the independently measured total metal concentrations; the high recovery rates indicate the good reliability of the SEP used in this study. Correlation coefficients indicated that the grain size has an effect on the distribution of metals in the investigated samples. The order of metal levels in the fractions was medium > fine > coarse for all the metals. The average total extractable metal concentrations for Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 1.1, 8.8, 4.7, 1,291.3, 13.9, 5.7 and 20.4 μg/g, respectively. The northeastern shelf had the lowest metal levels while the highest were in northwestern part mainly due to the significant tourism activities in the northwestern part. Comparison of our results to Earth’s crust values and to previous studies points out that our samples were relatively unpolluted with respect to the heavy metals investigated; most of the metals are not from anthropogenic sources. Enrichment factors as the criteria for examining the impact of the anthropogenic sources of heavy metals were calculated, and it was observed that the investigated samples were not contaminated with Cr, Cu, and Fe, moderately contaminated with Ni, Pb, and Cd, and contaminated with Cd in some sites. The P5 phase had the highest percents of Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Zn. Cadmium and lead were predominant in the P4 phase, while Cu, Fe and Zn were distributed in the order P5 > P3 > P4 > P2 > P1. The following order of bioavailability was found with the heavy metals Pb > Cr > Cd > Ni > Zn > Cu > Fe.  

电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法测定土壤和沉积物中硫的适用性研究

为探讨不同消解方式下电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法测定土壤及沉积物中硫的适用性,研究了不同标准物质消解液建立的工作曲线、谱线干扰对分析结果的影响。结合土壤和沉积物来源特点、主成分和待测物含量、干扰物情况,筛选20个典型标准物质分别采用王水水浴法和四酸电热板法进行消解,研究了电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法中3条分析谱线(180.669 、181.972 、182.562 nm)测定样品中硫的情况。结果表明,0.500 0 g样品经10.0 mL 王水(体积比1∶1)沸水浴消解4 h,采用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱仪分析谱线硫181.972 nm建立的18个标准物质工作曲线相关系数高达0.999 9,标准溶液实测浓度相对误差为-6.9%~16%,2个标准物质测定结果的精密度和认定值回收率分别为3.3%~4.3%和90%~96.7%,满足生态环境和自然资源行业的质量控制要求,该方法测定结果与波长色散X射线荧光标准分析方法具有可比性。建立工作曲线的标准物质应考虑待测物和干扰物含量,宜选用标准浓度认定值测试的相对误差而非工作曲线的相关系数作为评价工作曲线优劣的主要技术指标,谱线干扰的理论推导情况和实验结果在趋势上有较好的吻合性。