Chemical associations of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in soils and sediments determined by the sequential extraction technique

Abstract

A sequential extraction procedure was used to investigate the chemical associations of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in soils and sediments. It allowed the determination of these metals in various geochemical fractions of the samples. In the majority of cases, the four metals examined were associated with all the chemical fractions studied, although most of them were concentrated in potentially available fractions.