Journal of Geological Society of India (Online archive from Vol 1 to Vol 78)

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Transport and Fractionation of Pb in River Sediments from the Indian Sub-Continent


Affiliations
1 School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India
2 Chemistry Department, U.I.A., Wilrijk, Belgium, India
     

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The distribution of Ph and As in the bed sediments as particulates from the Ganges. Brahmaputra, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery rivers has been studied. While the Pb levels in bed sediments vary from a low of 2 μg Pb/gm in the Ganges to a high of 32 μg Pb/gm in Godavari, the corresponding particulate Pb load varies by a factor of 5-40 times the bed load from a low value of 5 μg Pb/gm particulates of Krishna to a high value of 1075 μg Pb/gm in the same river. Downstream variations in all rivers are generally erratic both for particulate and bed Pb-Ievels. All the river sediments indicate a very good correlation between Pb and As on the one hand and heavy metals such as Fe, Zn, Cu etc. on the other.

The Himalayan river sediments generally exhibit strong grain-size control on the fractionation of Pb and As, whereas the peninsular rivers do not show a systematic partitioning of Pb and As in various size populations.


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  • Transport and Fractionation of Pb in River Sediments from the Indian Sub-Continent

Abstract Views: 214  |  PDF Views: 2

Authors

V. Subramanian
School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India
R. Van Grieken
Chemistry Department, U.I.A., Wilrijk, Belgium, India
L. Van T'dack
Chemistry Department, U.I.A., Wilrijk, Belgium, India

Abstract


The distribution of Ph and As in the bed sediments as particulates from the Ganges. Brahmaputra, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery rivers has been studied. While the Pb levels in bed sediments vary from a low of 2 μg Pb/gm in the Ganges to a high of 32 μg Pb/gm in Godavari, the corresponding particulate Pb load varies by a factor of 5-40 times the bed load from a low value of 5 μg Pb/gm particulates of Krishna to a high value of 1075 μg Pb/gm in the same river. Downstream variations in all rivers are generally erratic both for particulate and bed Pb-Ievels. All the river sediments indicate a very good correlation between Pb and As on the one hand and heavy metals such as Fe, Zn, Cu etc. on the other.

The Himalayan river sediments generally exhibit strong grain-size control on the fractionation of Pb and As, whereas the peninsular rivers do not show a systematic partitioning of Pb and As in various size populations.