Elemental accumulation in the surficial sediment of Kesikköprü, Çubuk II and Asartepe Dam Lakes (Ankara) and potential sediment toxicity

ABSTRACT

In this study, Çubuk 2, Kesikköprü and Asartepe Dam Lake, were investigated. A total of 60 sediment samples were collected and the concentrations of 10 elements (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Mn, Fe, Co, Cr, Al, As) were determined. The obtained findings were compared to the limit values for the sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) and were investigated using sediment assessment methods. The results indicate that the values for SQGs revealed that the concentrations of Ni and As should be emphasised. Toxic unit (TU) values showed that As and Ni together constitute 69.95–80.09% of the total toxic effect alone for all lakes. In addition, the Contamination factor (Cf) and Enrichment factor (EF) detected the concentration of As for Kesikköprü Dam Lake as being at a medium and higher accumulation levels, although the Geoaccumulation index (Igeo) detected that As leads to contamination below the medium level. When the total element accumulation was evaluated, no risk was detected for the lakes. Cluster analysis (CA) revealed quite different elemental profiles for 3 lakes. The strongest correlation between the elements was observed for Cu-Ni (r = 0.942) in Çubuk 2, whereas Çubuk 2 was the lake with the highest seasonal elemental variation among the lakes investigated.

KEYWORDS:

• Anatolia
• ecological risk assessment
• ecotoxicological status
• risk factor
• toxicity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Projects (BAP), Ordu University under Grant (number AR-1509).

Notes on contributors

Şeyda Fikirdeşici-Ergen

Şeyda Fikirdeşici-Ergen She is an Assistant Professor at Department of Hydrobiology, Ankara University. Her research work is focused on environmental toxicology.

Çağrı Tekatlı

Çağrı Tekatli He is a Hydrobiologst. He works at an Environmental company that is an expert about biological quality components.

Pınar Gürbüzer

Pınar Gürbüzer She is a Doctoral Research Assistant at Department of Hydrobiology, Sinop University. Her research work is focused on freshwater ecology.

Esra Üçüncü-Tunca

Esra Üçüncü-Tunca, She is an post-doc researcher at Department of Internal Medicine Sciences, Hacettepe University. Her research work is focused on environmental technology and biotechnology.

Hasan Türe

Hasan Türe He is an Assistant Professor at Ordu University, Fatsa Faculty of Marine Science, where he has been a faculty member since 2014. His research interests lie in the area of polymer science and biomaterials.

Demet Biltekin

Demet Biltekin She is Assistant Professor at Istanbul Technical University, Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences. She is working on paleoecology and paleoclimate changes

Bedri Kurtuluş

Bedri Kurtuluş Dr. Kurtulus is an Assoc. Professor at Department of geological engineering, Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University and also Center for Environment & Water (CEW) at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Evren Tunca

Evren Tunca He is an Assistant Professor at Ordu University, Fatsa Faculty of Marine Science. His research focuses on environmental toxicology.