Heavy Metal Pollution in Quebrada Azul Sediments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15359/rca.29-1.6Keywords:
Metales pesados, contaminaciónAbstract
Fluvial sediment samples were taken from Azul creek, which directly drains Rio Azul Sanitary Landfill and collects the main part of its leachate. The samples were tested by X ray fluorescence in order to determine the concentration of some heavy metals and to establish the levels of pollution of the sediments. Sediments fine fraction shows the highest concentrations of heavy metals, for that reason it can be considered as a guide and its use is suggested in this type of studies due to the important savings in time and resources hat can be reached. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has established the procedures used to determine the levels of pollution. Some findings include that there is no pollution due to copper, rubidium and strontium, pollution due to vanadium and manganese is moderate and the pollution due to zinc is serious. Lead and mercury are not reaching the superficial streams yet, they are been kept inside the limits of the landfill. With respect to cadmium, which was not detected due to the configuration of equipment, it could have a behavior very similar to zinc.
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