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Common flaws in the analysis of river sediments polluted by risk elements and how to avoid them: case study in the Ploučnice River system, Czech Republic

  • Sediments, Sec 1 • Sediment Quality and Impact Assessment • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

River channel sediments have been widely used to trace current and historical pollution in fluvial systems, although they are not the only media employed for that purpose. The current practice in such use of sediments from sampling strategy, sample pre-treatment and geochemical data processing frequently includes unsubstantiated and redundant steps (e.g., sieving by sub-millimetre meshes) and neglects certain relevant aspects (insufficient attention to what is actually sampled). The aim of this work was to improve that state and to remove redundant steps that make research more time-consuming and potentially introduce biases.

Materials and methods

The work presents data obtained in the identification of pollution sources in a small catchment with three tributaries (the Ploučnice River, the Czech Republic). The sediments were manually sampled in river channels in sites of recent accumulation of fine solids transported by the river. The samples were pulverised and analysed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The sediments are composed mostly of silt and sand with most chemical elements, including risk elements “diluted” by quartz and detritic organic matter, which are perfectly suited for geochemical normalization to correctly process compositional data. We avoided statistical tools based on Gaussian distribution, such as means and standard deviations, and instead used median-based statistics better fitting the known properties of geochemical datasets.

Results and discussion

Sediment sieving to sub-millimetre-size fractions was replaced by geochemical normalization best with Fe and possibly with Rb and Ti, with Al showing implausible performance. The normalization produces grain-size invariant compositional data. The performance of geochemical normalization and downstream variations of risk element concentrations (Pb and Zn) were tested by median-based criteria. Median smoothing of normalized risk element concentrations produced easily interpretable downstream variations of the pollution extent that were independent of grain-size effects and were robust towards the occasional presence of outliers.

Conclusions

Channel sediments are suitable for fluvial pollution monitoring if biased routines are avoided. The paper can inspire specialists who plan to perform environmental monitoring and desire to simplify their work and produce robust and unbiased estimates of pollution sources in fluvial systems under anthropogenic pressure. A similar approach could be tested for monitoring of pollution by further elements and hydrophobic organic compounds, except for the need to choose another normalizing element or TOC.

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Acknowledgments

Funding essential for GIS work, field sampling and local aspects was provided by a student project from the UJEP in Ústí nad Labem (project number 44204 15 2076 01 led by ŠT), while most work on geochemistry aspects was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project 15-00340S led by TMG and by institutional support by IIC Řež). The authors acknowledge technical help by Monika Maříková (IIC Řež), who assisted with laboratory sample processing and Jitka Elznicová (UJEP in Ústí nad Labem), who provided guidance and supported work by students (ŠT and DH).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environment, J.E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic

    Štěpánka Tůmová, Diana Hrubešová, Michal Hošek & Tomáš Matys Grygar

  2. Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, AS CR, v.v.i., 250 68, Řež, Czech Republic

    Štěpánka Tůmová, Petr Vorm, Michal Hošek & Tomáš Matys Grygar

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  1. Štěpánka Tůmová
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  2. Diana Hrubešová
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  3. Petr Vorm
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  4. Michal Hošek
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  5. Tomáš Matys Grygar
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Contributions

ŠT performed sediment sampling in the Panenský Creek and GIS work and searched for pollution sources in written archives. DH performed extensive qualified sampling in the Ploučnice River, the Robečský Creek and the Svitavka River. PV performed most laboratory analyses and assisted considerably in planning lab work and evaluation of geochemical datasets. MH contributed by result presentation. TMG coordinated the works and assembled the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tomáš Matys Grygar.

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Tůmová, Š., Hrubešová, D., Vorm, P. et al. Common flaws in the analysis of river sediments polluted by risk elements and how to avoid them: case study in the Ploučnice River system, Czech Republic. J Soils Sediments 19, 2020–2033 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2215-9

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