Environmental and Geochemical Parameters of Bottom-Sediment from the Southern Bug Estuary

Abstract

The bottom sediments of river hydroecosystems were studied for the gross content of heavy metals (K, Ti Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr and Hg). The environmental and geochemical processes of bottom-sediment formation in aqua landscapes were analyzed, allowing us to stress the need to determine the methodological basis for the correlation-regression dependence of the heavy metal accumulation processes in bottom sediments, as well as total content of organic carbon. The ranking of pairwise correlation coefficients arranged in decreasing order is: TOC:Cu (0.87)>TOC:K (0.82)>TOC: Ni (0.75)> TOC:Sr (0.73)> TOC:Fe, (0.7)>TOC:Ti (0.67)> TOC:Hg (0.63)> TOC: Cr (0.58)>TOC:Rb (0.56)> and TOC:Zn (0.51). The proposed methodological approach determines the environmental and geochemical aspects of the sedimentation processes heavy metals, while also identifying the general trends in hydroecosystems prone to the anthropogenic impact.