Abstract
Sediment cores were collected at 5 stations in Lake Varese. They were analyzed for organic matter, N, P, organic C, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn and PAHs. A sedimentological approach has been applied to estimate the ecological risk from identified pollutants.
As in other eutrophic lakes in Northern Italy, this lake is also at considerable risk from heavy metal pollution. Cr, Cu and Cd showed the highest enrichment factors for the last 5 years, 23.4, 8.0 and 7.6 respectively. Other metals had enrichment factors ranging from 1 to 3. Fluoranthene was chosen as a representative PAH, derived from combustion products; its average value in surficial sediments ranged from 100 to 220 ng l-1 dw. This compound can be a hazard to human health and aquatic life. An evaluation of radionuclide distributions after the recent Chernobyl accident in the USSR (134Cs, 137C s, 131I, 106Ru) provided useful tracers to follow the cycling of pollutants bound to particulate matter in the aquatic ecosystem.
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Provini, A., Premazzi, G., Galassi, S. et al. Distribution of nutrients, trace elements, PAHs and radionuclides in sediment cores from Lake Varese (N. Italy). Hydrobiologia 176, 213–223 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026556
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026556