engleski

Toxic elements in stream sediments as indicators of environmental problems

In the present work it is aimed to show and discuss selected examples of toxic elements determined in stream sediments of transboundary rivers of supraregional interest. They can be used as indicators of environmental problems. The drainage basins studied are from three ex-Yugoslavian countries: Slovenia, Croatia and Kosovo, from which only Slovenia is in EU. The Idrija mine with the Soča River drainage basin was considered as a site of hystorical mining. It flows from Julian Alps (Slovenia) to the Gulf of Trieste (Italy). Regarding toxicity Idrijca River, a tributary of Soča River is polluted with Hg, As, Cr, Cu and Pb in the town of Idrija. It brings the pollution to Adriatic Sea [1]. In the upper Sava River drainage basin (Slovenia, Croatia) the impact of tributaries on mineralogical and elemental composition of sediments was studied by Frančišković-Bilinski and Rantitsch [2]. Anomalous geochemical data were identified by boxplot method in three locations within Slovenia. These are in Celje Region, in Moste Dam and in Litija-Zagorje. Two locations of Sava River in Croatia (Strelečko and Lukavec Posavski) show very clean environment with respect to trace elements, indicating self purification mechanism of Sava River [3]. The Kupa River drainage basin is studied very intensively, as it is a significant water resource for Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was observed in stream sediments by Frančišković-Bilinski [4] an environmental impact of barite waste management. Comparing the concentrations of toxic elements in stream sediments of the whole Kupa River drainage basin it was found that besides Ba there are only a few locations where toxic effects with Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and P might be possible. The whole region is relatively uncontaminated [5]. In Kosovo stream sediments were analyzed for the first time in the four main rivers. Two locations in Sitnica River are significantly polluted with Zn and Pb. Morava River is contaminated with Cd. Both rivers flow through Serbia ultimately to the Black Sea. The other two rivers (Drini i Bardhë and Lepenc) are relatively uncontaminated [6]. In the presented papers further monitoring of sediments in all studied drainage basins can be suggested, possibly using multi-instrumental approach proposed by Bilinski et al. [7] for the physico-chemical characterization of sediments, as an aid to environmental monitoring and pollution assessment. References [1] Frančišković-Bilinski, S., Bilinski, H., Tibljaš, D., Rantitsch, G., Effects of mercury mining regions from NW Dinarides on quality of stream sediments, Fresenius Env. Bull., 14, (2005) 913-927. [2] Frančišković-Bilinski, S., Rantitsch, G., Geochemical and mineralogical dispersion in the upper Sava River (Slovenia), a preliminary report, First Conference on Applied Environmental Geology (AEG'03) in Central and Eastern Europe Abstract volume / Kralik, M. ; Häusler, H. ; Kolesar, C. (Eds), Vienna : Umweltbundesamt GmbH, (2003) 58-59.

toxic elements ; stream sediments ; transboundary rivers ; environmental problems

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