Abstract

Toxic metals (cadmium, lead, copper and arsenic) assessment was carried out in water and sediments samples of Nokoue Lake. Except for water, a group of sediment samples was mineralized before the analysis with atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The second group of sediment samples was processed for texture analysis. The results revealed that for the physico-chemical characteristics, the pH is from 6.5 to 8.5. Four kinds of textures were identified: mud, sand, sandy mud and muddy sand. Heavy metals mean concentrations in water rose from 0.01 to 10.1 mg/L for lead and 5.84 to 8.47 for arsenic. In water, copper showed low concentrations in all sites and the values of cadmium were below the detectable limits. The mean concentrations in the sediments were: Cd (0.56 to 22.07 mg/L); Pb (3.2 to 13.94 mg/L); Cu (11.51 to 54.39 mg/L) and As (ND to 436.81 mg/L). Besides, the pattern of trace elements accumulation according to textures revealed that sandy mud and sand sediments recorded high concentrations of arsenic, mud registered high concentrations of cadmium and the sediment combining sand and mud registered high concentrations of copper. Besides, the correlation between heavy metal concentrations and pH except for arsenic. 

Key words: Nokoue Lake, pollution, heavy metal, texture.

Abbreviation

ATSM, American society for testing materials; CBSQGs, consensus based sediment quality guidelines; MEC, midpoint effect concentration; EPA, environment protection agency; PEC, probable effect concentration; SPSS, social package for statistic software; TEC, threshold effect concentration.