Contamination of Bottom Sediments of Small Rivers in Moscow (Businka and Tarakanovka rivers as examples)

Abstract

In this study we observed bottom sediments of two Moscow small rivers: Businka and Tarakanovka. The observation was carried out in autumn, 2011. Upon our field observation of the rivers we choosed 9 sampling points on each river that could represent their contamination. In each sampling point we took sample of water and sample of bottom sediments from the surface layer (0–5 cm). We measured such parameters as heavy metals, petroleum products and extracted organic compounds (EOC) containment in bottom sediments. Heavy metals concentrations were measured by such methods as ICP and atomic absorption spectrometry, petroleum products were measured via IR-spectrometry and EOC were measured gravimetrically. The results of our observation showed that river Businka is more polluted than river Tarakanovka by all measured parameters with the main pollutants being Cu, Zn Cd and Sr. Organic contamination is mostly caused by petroleum products: the comparison between concentrations of petroleum products and EOC showed symbatic relation between these parameters.