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Inter-estuarine and seasonal to decadal variations of heavy metal pollution in the Gulf of Cambay, India

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Abstract

Toxic heavy metals adsorbed preferentially onto suspended sediments enter our food chain by bio-assimilation in coastal ocean organisms. To decipher metal pollution status in the Gulf of Cambay (food hub of India) under rising anthropogenic pressure, we present seasonal abundances of Ti, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in > 150 samples of suspended sediments (> 0.45 µm) collected in four seasons (2016–2017) from two large estuaries (Narmada and Tapi). The suspended sediments of both the estuaries generally show low heavy metal pollution (Igeo < 1). The hotspots of moderate-to-high pollution of Pb (Igeo < 4), Cd (Igeo < 3), and Zn (Igeo < 2) are found at salinity < 2, and those of Co (Igeo < 2) at salinity ~ 20–30 in the Tapi estuary during the non-monsoon seasons indicating their decoupled sources in Surat. The PLI values show no or little seasonality in the overall metal pollution status of both the estuaries. A comparison with the literature data suggests that suspended sediments efficiently capture active metal pollution in Indian estuaries. Furthermore, a recent decline (2004–2017) in estuarine metal pollution in the Gulf of Cambay found in this study could be due to enhanced organic matter supplies by enhanced urban sewage discharge and/or more trapping of contaminated riverine sediments upstream of the newly built large dam reservoirs counteracting the growth of anthropogenic metal inputs in the Narmada and Tapi watersheds. The data scarcity of heavy metal concentrations in suspended sediments limits reporting unambiguously the current pollution status of other major Indian estuaries.

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Fig. 1

modified from Bhuvan (https://bhuvan-app1.nrsc.gov.in/thematic/thematic/index.php)

Fig. 2
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Fig. 8

source: a, Sarin et al. (1979); b, Subramanian et al. (1985); c, Datta and Subramanian (1998); d, Kumar Sarkar et al. (2004); e, Banerjee et al. (2012); f, Samanta et al. (2017); g, Ramesh et al. (1990); h, Ramesh et al. (1989); i, Biksham and Subramanian (1988); j, Biksham et al. (1991); k, Ray et al. (2006); l, Krupadam et al. (2007); m, Seralathan (1987), Seralathan and Seetaramaswamy (1987); n, Subramanian et al. (1989); o, Dekov et al. (1998); p, Ramanathan et al. (1993); q, Dhanakumar et al. (2013); r, Alagarsamy (2006); s, Shynu et al. (2012); t, Borole et al. (1982); u, Sharma and Subramanian (2010); v, Shah et al. (2013); *, this study

Fig. 9

source is the same as given in the caption of Fig. 8

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Data availability

Data will be available on reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We thank IISER Bhopal for providing the research facilities, P. Nasipuri for providing aliquots of USGS reference materials, and D. Borgohain for help during fieldwork in Gujarat. We also thankfully acknowledge the editor for handling the review of this manuscript and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

Funding

We acknowledge the Ministry of Education (MoE), India, for providing the grant INST/EES/2015036 to S.P. Singh and the Department of Science & Technology (DST) for a Ph.D. fellowship 2017/IF/170451 to N. Ahmad.

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  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal, 462066, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Abul Qasim, Satinder Pal Singh, Nafees Ahmad, Jitendra Argal & Azad Kashyap Chandrashekhar

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Qasim, A., Singh, S.P., Ahmad, N. et al. Inter-estuarine and seasonal to decadal variations of heavy metal pollution in the Gulf of Cambay, India. Environ Monit Assess 194, 36 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09680-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09680-0

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