COPPER CONCENTRATIONS AND PHASES IN POLLUTED SURFACE SEDIMENTS OF LAKE EDKU, EGYPT

COPPER CONCENTRATIONS AND PHASES IN POLLUTED
SURFACE SEDIMENTS OF LAKE EDKU, EGYPT
AHMED M. KHADR
Department of Oceanography Faculty of Science Alexandria University
Keywords: Lake Edku, sediments, Copper phases
ABSTRACT
The distribution of geochemical forms of a metal into the different sedimentary phases
shows the important role of these forms in the cycling of metal between the water column
and the sediment reservoir. The aim of the present work is to compare copper work
concentrations among different phases at two periods. The evaluation was based on
comparisons of the data of the different chemical forms extracted by using sequential
extraction technique at two periods, 1992 and 2002. High copper content was observed in
Lake Edku sediments, which originated from urban areas and industrial wastes as well as
agriculture wastewater. Copper concentrations in the year 1992 in different species in the
Lake sediments were considerably lower than that reported in the year 2002. Copper
concentration in the different species reached 40 folds for exchangeable; 23 fold for
carbonate 253 fold for Fe & Mn oxides; 2.6 fold for organic fraction and 33.8 fold for
residual. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the two periods and sites showed
significant differences in the content of copper during the two periods for the five fractions.
The variance for the sites revealed no significant differences for exchangeable, carbonate
and Fe & Mn oxides fractions.