Abstract
The problem of contamination of Lerma River in the State of Mexico, México, has been studied in an integral way, since it is one of the rivers of importance due to its geographical situation in the country. José Antonio Dam is the main receiving body of this river that is being contaminated by, industrial wastewater, of which about 70% is inorganic, as well as discharges municipal and agricultural, driving a lot of material in suspension. This dam acts as a regulator of avenues and its water is used for agricultural irrigation and its sediments are used as sludge to improve agricultural soil in the surroundings. One of the studies that have been carried out is to determine the geochemical distribution of heavy metals in the sediments of this dam, as well as its adsorptive capacity towards different metals. It has been observed that these sediments acts as metal contaminants sequester. Knowing the composition and morphology of these sediments can provide information to understand the mobility of different heavy metals it contains, and potential health risk, which can finally lead to the establishment of purification capacity of this sludge.
Highlights
It has been observed that natural processes for the formation of aquatic sediments are altered by human activities and are recognized as a reservoir for different chemical species, including metals [1] [2] [3]
Sediments were collected during dry season on 2012-2014 years; season where metals are concentrated in sediments; in each sampling sediment had excess water, it was necessary to eliminate this by solar drying, where sediment was placed in plexiglass trays during 10 days; with each sediment sampled in the indicated years, composite samples prepared one more time
In so far as the texture and granulometry of the sediment, it was observed that sediments in zones B and F, that correspond practically to the dam, predominate clays, while in zone A, corresponding to the channel of the Lerma river
Summary
It has been observed that natural processes for the formation of aquatic sediments are altered by human activities and are recognized as a reservoir for different chemical species, including metals [1] [2] [3]. All of these components present large areas of interaction that allows a wide variety of metals to be incorporated by different processes. The oxyhydroxides of Al, Fe and Mn present in the sediments adsorb trace metals where the clays function as a support for organic matter and these oxyhydroxides. Metals are joined to sediments by different physicochemical phenomena, but even so the metals do not remain fixed in sediment [1] [6], since they can present chemical changes due to the physicochemical changes of environment that surrounds them. Metals interaction processes with sediments are very complex, and the sediment-water system has relevance in different chemical reactions of metals such as adsorption and desorption equilibria
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