OCCURENCE AND BEHAVIOUR OF MERCURY AND CADMIUM IN THE SEDIMENTS OF AN ESTUARINE SYSTEM: THE GIRONDE.

Olivier François Xavier Donard (1) , C. Latouche , Alain Bourg (2) , J.-P. Vernet

1 IPREM - Institut des sciences analytiques et de physico-chimie pour l'environnement et les materiaux
2 LCABIE - Laboratoire de Chimie Analytique Bio-Inorganique et Environnement

Sediments of the Gironde estuary were analysed for total mercury and cadmium concentrations. Results show a general downstream decrease for both metals. Correlations with others geochemical parameters of the sediments indicates that mercury present a good affinity with the finest fraction of the sediments, POC content and phosphorus. Cadmium show poorer correlations with the coarser fraction of the sediment, the POC content and zirconium. The degree of contamination determined according to natural background level indicates that the anthropogenic contribution is more important for Cd (95%) than for Hg (75%).

Domaines: Chimie analytique

Olivier François Xavier Donard, C. Latouche, Alain Bourg, J.-P. Vernet. OCCURENCE AND BEHAVIOUR OF MERCURY AND CADMIUM IN THE SEDIMENTS OF AN ESTUARINE SYSTEM: THE GIRONDE.. International Conference - Heavy Metals in the Environment., 1983, Unknown, Unknown Region. pp.960-963. ⟨hal-01590179⟩