A WEAK ACID-EXTRACTION METHOD AS A TOOL FOR THE METAL POLLUTION ASSESSMENT IN SURFACE SEDIMENTS

A simple technique has been evaluated for the initial assessment of heavy metal pollution in coastal sediments, in order to overcome many difficulties involved in routine monitoring of such analytes. The leaching of sediment samples with a cold dilute HCl, which affects only the non-residual part of the metals, gives the ''anthropogenic fingerprints'' on the bottom deposits and provides more data on the extent of heavy metal pollution relatively to the total sediment analysis. The proposed technique has been applied in most Hellenic coastal regions, both polluted and unpolluted. Comparisons between the various regions with the use of an ''enrichment factor'' have been made, which establish the gross degree to which a sediment population has been subjected to heavy metal pollution from the overlying waters.