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Heavy metal concentrationsin surface sediments fromPagassitikos Gulf, GreeceH. Fanny Voutsinou‐Taliadouri a & Euprossine

Georgakopoulou‐Grigoriadou a

a National Centre for Marine Research , Athens ,Hellinikon , 116 04 , GreecePublished online: 20 Sep 2008.

To cite this article: H. Fanny Voutsinou‐Taliadouri & Euprossine Georgakopoulou‐Grigoriadou(1989) Heavy metal concentrations in surface sediments from Pagassitikos Gulf, Greece,Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, 20-21:1, 53-58, DOI: 10.1080/02772248909357359

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02772248909357359

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Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry, Vols. 20-21, pp. 53-58Reprints available directly from the publisherPhotocopying permitted by license only

© 1989 Gordon and Breach, Science Publishers, Inc.Printed in Great Britain

HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATIONS IN SURFACESEDIMENTS FROM PAGASSITIKOS GULF,

GREECE

H. FANNY VOUTSINOU-TALIADOURI andEUPROSSINE GEORGAKOPOULOU-GRIGORIADOU

National Centre for Marine Research, Athens, 116 04, Hellinikon, Greece

A survey of metal concentrations in surface sediments of the Pagassitikos Gulf was carried out tenyears after a previous one. Samples were taken at 19 stations during 1986. They were examined forgrain composition, organic carbon content and Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, Co, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Fe concentrations.No significant changes were observed. The organic carbon content did not suggest any anthropogenicinfluence. Contrarily to expectation, the lower metal values were found in Volos Bay and the highesttowards the centre of the Gulf. Manganese shows anomalously high concentration in the eastern partof the Gulf, while the channels present enhanced nickel figures.

INTRODUCTION

The Pagassitikos Gulf (Figure 1), on the eastern shore of Thessaly, midway

20:

39157

10-

32.otr

Angistri

THESSALY

1In

23° 00'

Figure 1 Sampling stations.

15'

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54 H. F. VOUTSINOU-TALIADOURI AND E. GEORGAKOPOULOU-GRIGORIADOU

between Athens and Thessaloniki, is a roughly circular gulf and covers 520 km2.The major part of its bottom is rather flat and featureless, with an average depthof about 70 m. It has a maximum depth of 100 m. It communicates with the openAegean Sea through a narrow opening, the Trikeri Channel. The latter is boundedto the south by the northern end of the island of Euboea. Stream inputs are few,scanty and intermittent, especially in the east. In the north of the PagassitikosGulf lies the open and shallow bay of Volos, which receives the effluents of a fewfactories and the domestic wastes of the 60 000 inhabitants of the town of Volos.

This investigation was carried out for the purpose of finding out whetherchanges had occurred since the last survey (1975-1976).

METHODOLOGY

Sampling took place during two cruises in May and September 1986, in a knot of19 stations. The samples were gathered with a 0.1m2 van Veen grab and werestored in deep-freeze until the analysis. Before processing, they were left at roomtemperature for several hours and thoroughly mixed. One portion was put asidefor the granulometric analysis. Another one was dried in a ventilated oven at105 °C, then crushed in a mortar to pass a 0.45 mm nylon sieve. The particle sizecomposition was estimated according to Buchanan's technique,1 as adapted andmodified by Satsmadjis and Voutsinou-Taliadouri.4 The organic carbon wasdetermined by oxidizing the sample with a hot mixture of potassium dichromatesolution and concentrated sulphuric acid. The excess reagent was titrated with astandard solution of ammonium ferrous sulphate. Diphenylamine was used asindicator.2

For the estimation of the metals, 5 g of the dried sediment were shaken in aplastic bottle with 75 ml of 2NHC1 for 16 hours at room temperature. Theinsoluble matter was retained on a glass fiber filter. The volume of the filtrate wasbrought up to 100 ml. The concentrations of the elements were measured on aPerkin-Elmer 3O5B atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with a deuter-ium background corrector. The technique was that of Satsmadjis andVoutsinou-Taliadouri.3

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

It can be seen from Table 1 that the proportion of sand changes very much fromone station to another (from 2.36% at station HA to 73.29% at station OA).Similarly the amount of silt also showed rather wide variations, it was smallest atOA (24.65%) and highest at HA (95.80%). On the contrary, the proportion ofclay was very small everywhere and had only a small range of values (1.25-4.90 %). In general, the finest sediment was in the central and deepest part of thePagassitikos Gulf, while the coarsest sediment lay in the Trikeri Channel and theBay of Volos.

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HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATIONS FROM PAGASSITIKOS GULF 55

Table 1 Grain size and organic carbon at the various stations

Station

D,DHFAAVFRUBATEA,HAIA,LAKAIA3

NAOAQA

Sand (%)

15.2519.6524.6043.3218.053.53

28.924.773.668.32

45.752.368.593.324.163.756.22

73.298.00

Silt (%)

83.2679.0574.2255.3280.5293.9869.7491.9594.6288.0252.2795.8089.9394.6693.7494.9591.2524.6587.05

Clay (%)

1.461.301.251.351.382.481.313.291.713.661.971.711.422.012.091.302.522.034.90

Folk'sclassification

sandy siltsandy siltsandy siltsandy siltsandy siltsiltsandy siltsiltsiltsiltsandy siltsiltsiltsiltsiltsiltsiltsilty sandsilt

Organiccarbon (%)

0.870.780.690.640.740.720.600.660.700.780.660.920.800.680.730.780.790.740.67

The organic carbon content showed rather small variations (0.60-0.92%). Ingeneral, it was higher when the sediment was fine. In the Bay of Volos the figureswere not significantly higher than elsewhere. This does not denote any significantpollution.

Table 2 indicates that the concentrations of metals as a rule tend to rise of alltogether. They are lowest in the Bay of Volos and the more shallow western partof the Pagassitikos Gulf and highest in the eastern section of it. This is because ofthe wide range of texture of the sediments, the finer one in the deep part of theGulf contains more metals and the coarsest one in the Bay of Volos less. Takingthat into consideration it seems likely that the discharges into the Bay of Volosraise the levels of metals only in the cases of Cu and Zn (Figure 2). It is possiblethat metal enrichments in the eastern section have a natural origin. This isparticularly true of Mn at stations HA, IA3 and IAl5 where the concentrations areat least ten times higher than at station D t (Figure 3). In the case of Ni thehighest value is shown at QA in the Trikeri Channel, presumably pointing to anickel ore in the vicinity.

It can be seen from Table 3 that the sediments in the Pagassitikos Gulf aremuch coarser than in the Patraikos Gulf but finer than in the MessolonghiLagoon and off Lesbos Island. However, the proportion of clay is very small. Theorganic carbon content is quite comparable to the Patraikos and similar to theaverage. Generally, the concentrations of metals in the Pagassitikos Gulf are thesame as elsewhere.

TOXI—C

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56 H. F. VOUTSINOU-TALIADOURI AND E. GEORGAKOPOULOU-GRIGORIADOU

Table 2 Concentrations of the heavy metals. Values expressed inmgkg" 1 (except iron, in %,)

Station

D,DHFAAVFRUBATEA,HAIA,LAKAIA3

NAOAQA

Fe

17.415.58.017.619.521.419.921.325.622.018.729.229.116.126.027.724.217.716.5

Mn

2133462264095175895327241100833727305022008702000245012509501250

Zn

63664757606456656562677072486868664744

Cr

848567109119141132145190145115182222103176198187133102

Ni

46473359678072881181008314915479146135164139227

Co

1110812141615152016142324142122201618

Cu

23271416221926192318142324132123211315

Pb

23222323262523262424222827192826252225

Cd

<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4<0.4

20

THESSALY /*'¿~''ñ

23° 15'

Figure 2 Zn distribution.

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HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATIONS FROM PAGASSITIKOS GULF 57

Figure 3 Mn distribution

Table 3 Comparison with Greek coastal regions unpolluted by heavy metals. Determinations carriedout with the same methods

Region/Reference

Pagassitikos Gulf(present work)

Messolonghi Lagoon9

Patraikos Gulf8

Pagassitikos Gulf6

East Aegean Sea7

Lesbos Island5

Mean

/ o

Sand

17.135.64.9

22.910.948.6

24.6

Silt

80.846.243.270.456.334.6

50.1

Clay

2.118.251.96.7

32.816.8

25.3

Organiccarbon

0.743.390.670.730.351.32

0.77a

Fe

(%o)

20.719.228.323.722.511.7

21.1

mg kg

Mn

1065764

1420897861447

878

- 1

Zn

616072583832

52

Cr

14073

100264

86155

136

Ni

10580

11011713189

105

Co

16111915159

14

Cu

20233521178

21

Pb

251216261728

20

•Without Messolonghi.

CONCLUSION

The sediment composition in metals has not changed in the past ten years, alsothere is no proof of anthropogenic enrichments, except perhaps in the instances ofZn and Cu.

References

1. J. B. Buchanan, IBP Handbook (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1971), No. 16, pp. 35-39.

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58 H. F. VOUTSINOU-TALIADOURI AND E. GEORGAKOPOULOU-GRIGORIADOU

2. H. Gaudette, W. Flight, L. Toner and D. Folger, J. Sedim. Petr. 44, 249 (1974).3. J. Satsmadjis and H. F. Voutsinou-Taliadouri, Anal. Chim. Acta 131, 83 (1981).4. J. Satsmadjis and H. F. Voutsinou-Taliadouri, Ocean. Acta 8, 277 (1985).5. H. F. Voutsinou-Taliadouri, Viles Journées Etudes Pollutions (C.I.E.S.M., Lucerne, 1984),

pp, 251-259.6. H. F. Voutsinou-Taliadouri and J. Satsmadjis, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 15, 221 (1982a).7. H. F. Voutsinou-Taliadouri and J. Satsmadjis, Rev. Intern. Oceanogr. Medic. 66/67, 71 (1982b).8. H. F. Voutsinou-Taliadouri and J. Satsmadjis, Mar. Poll. Bull. 14, 33 (1983).9. H. F. Voutsinou-Taliadouri and J. Satsmadjis, Mar. Poll. Bull. 18, 49 (1987).

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