Mid-Term Variation of Vertical Distribution of Acid Volatile Sulphide and Simultaneously Extracted Metals in Sediment Cores From Lake Albufera (Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

Lake Albufera is one of the most eutrophic bodies of water in Spain due to point and diffuse pollution over past decades, and its sediments are likely to be anoxic because of high organic matter flux. Hence, sulphides can play an important role in limiting the mobility of heavy metals. This study aimed to study the vertical variation of acid volatile sulphide (AVS) and simultaneously extracted metals (SEM) in sediment cores collected from Lake Albufera; other sediment characteristics, such as organic matter, biochemical oxygen, demand or total metals, were also studied. Three sites were selected, and four sampling campaigns were performed to study spatial and temporal variation as well as to obtain information regarding historical variation in the composition of sediments. AVS and SEM were analysed by the purge-and-trap method. The vertical distribution of AVS and SEM varied depending on the sampling site—concentrations of AVS and SEM were higher at sites close to mouths of inflowing channels. A decreasing trend of AVS has been found at these sites over time: In the two first samplings, AVS increased with depth reaching maximum concentrations of 40 and 21 μmol g⁻¹, but from then on AVS were lower and decreased with depth. SEM decreased with depth from 3 μmol g⁻¹ in surface layers to approximately 1 μmol g⁻¹ at deeper segments at these sites. However, the central site was more uniform with respect to depth as well as with time; it presented lower values of SEM and AVS (mean 0.9 and 2.0 μmol g⁻¹ respectively), and the maximum value of AVS (7 μmol g⁻¹) was found at the top layer (0–3 cm). According to the (SEM-AVS)/f_OC approach, every site, and throughout the cores, can be classified as containing nontoxic metals because the values were <130 μmol g⁻¹.