Heavy metals partitioning in the sediments of Izmir Inner Bay

Abstract

Izmir Bay is known to be polluted by high concentrations of heavy metals and organic pollutants. Sediment samples taken from 7 different stations in Izmir Inner Bay were analyzed for their total organic matter content and, Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn. In addition, the chemical distribution of the metals were determined by means of the BCR (Community Bureau of Reference) Extraction Procedure (developed by European Commission for Standards, Measurement and Testing) which allows the determination of metals bound as four fractions; exchangeable and acid soluble, reducible (bound to iron-manganese oxides), oxidizable (bound to organics) and residual. The results show that Izmir Inner Bay contains sediments with high metal concentrations. According to the chemical distribution of metals, Cr and Cu tend to accumulate mostly on the organic fraction of the sediment. Pb is mostly found in the reducible fraction where Zn is mobile in the sediment, and it is distributed evenly on each fraction.