Statistical Assessment of Heavy Metals and Radioactive Elements Built in Sediments and Residual Salts in the Dry Bed of Lake Urmia

Subject Areas : soil pollution

Asghar  Asghari Moghaddam ¹ (Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran ٭(Corresponding Authors))
Fatemeh  Nazari ² (Environmental Geology Graduate Student, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran)
Mohsen  Moazzen ³ (Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran)
Vartan  Simmonds ⁴ (Assistant Professor, Research Center of Basic Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran)

Received: 2017-05-26 Accepted : 2017-09-20 Published : 2020-07-22

Keywords: cluster analysis, Urmia Lake, Correlation coefficient, Factor analysis,

Abstract :

Background and Objective: In recent years, the water level of Lake Urmia has been increasingly reduced and a huge amount of sediment and salt has remained in its bed. Due to the geology around the lake as well as the effluents and sewage that have entered the lake, harmful elements have entered the lake water. With the regression of the lake, the complex contaminants in the water have been transferred to the sediments and salts of the lake bed, which in case of possible conversion of these sediments and salts containing hazardous elements into fine dust, will affect the surrounding areas. In this study, the content of heavy harmful metals (As, Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, Mn, V, Cd and Hg) and radioactive materials (Th and U) in sediments and salts of Lake Urmia were evaluated. . The purpose of this study is to identify and study the source of contamination of harmful elements in sediments and residual salts in the dried bed of the semi-eastern part and between the passage of Lake Urmia. Method: To investigate, sampling of sediments and surface salts of the lake was done from the eastern and middle part of the lake and the samples were geochemically evaluated and statistically analyzed. Findings: Comparison of the results of the obtained concentrations with the average crust showed that the elements As, Cu, Ni, Co, Hg, Cd, Th and U in the region are more than the average crust. Discussion and Conclusion: The studied elements were examined by statistical evaluations such as correlation coefficient, cluster analysis and factor analysis. The results of all three methods were consistent with each other. According to these results, the origin of U and Hg elements is geology and the origin of other human elements. The main sources of human pollution are from urban and industrial effluents and sewage in the areas around the lake.

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