Abstract
In this study, the water draining a catchment of 65 km2 in NW Spain was monitored over a 3-year period to examine temporal variability of five metal concentrations (Al, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn) in dissolved form and also in suspended solids (SS), under two different hydrological conditions—in baseflow and stormflow events. pH, SS and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were also examined as possible factors affecting metal transport mechanisms. The results showed that AlD, CuD, and ZnD were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in stormflow events than in baseflow, while in SS, all metal concentrations decreased (p < 0.05) during stormflow events. The metal seasonal variability was also examined. In dissolved form, only FeD showed significant differences (p < 0.05) between seasons, with higher concentrations in summer, independently of the hydrological conditions, while in SS, only CuSS during stormflow events showed concentrations significantly higher (p < 0.05) during summer than in the remainder seasons. The partition coefficients (K D) decreased significantly (p < 0.05) for all metals during stormflow events. K D correlations showed that SS and DOC were the main factors in controlling the K D of all metals, except the K D of Mn which did not depend on any of these variables in baseflow. Metal enrichment factors were significantly higher (p < 0.05) during baseflow than in events which were associated to SS source and size.
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Acknowledgments
This investigation was carried out within the projects REN2003-08143 funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and PGIDIT05RAG10303PR and 10MDS103031 financed by the Xunta of Galicia. The first author was awarded with a predoctoral fellowship of the University of A Coruña and the second with an Angeles Alvariño contract (Xunta of Galicia).
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Palleiro, L., Rodríguez-Blanco, M.L., Taboada-Castro, M.M. et al. The Influence of Discharge, pH, Dissolved Organic Carbon, and Suspended Solids on the Variability of Concentration and Partitioning of Metals in a Rural Catchment. Water Air Soil Pollut 224, 1651 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1651-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1651-9