Enrichment of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in Humic Acid Sediment Cores, Lake Edku, Egypt PDF

Keywords

Iron, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Lead, Egypt

Abstract

The concentration of humic substances as humic and fulvic acids in Lake Edku sediment cores accounts for 54% of the total organic carbon in the three cores sediment samples. The total average trace metal concentrations of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd are 55150, 1019,79, 52,42 and 3.5ug g-1, respectively in sediment core samples. The most abundant metals present in the humic acids were Fe, Zn, Cu, Pb, Mn and Cd. Significant portions of the total Pb, Cu and Zn found in the sediments were associated with humic acids. Smaller portions of Cd was found, whereas insignificant fractions of the total sedimentary Fe and Mn were recovered in association with humic acids. It is of interest to mention that while the total humic carbon represents only 29.5% of the total organic carbon, the humic acids contribute about 83% of lead and 75% of copper. These results reflect the importance of humic acids as a sink for these metals in lake sediment cores.