Research Information System
2ND INT. CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ( ICOEST), Belgrade, Serbia, 28 September - 02 October 2016, pp.30-35
Sediments have an important role as a habitat for aquatic organisms to grow, evolve and establish
in the ecological system. Sediment contamination is one of indicators for the prediction of
potential ecological risks in aquatic systems. Heavy metals are among the most persistent of
pollutants in the ecosystem such as water, sediments and biota because of their resistance to
decomposition in natural condition. Toxicity appears after exceeding level of
indispensability.Heavy metals become toxic when they are not metabolized by the body and accumulate
in the soft tissues. Metals have low solubility in water, get adsorbed and accumulated on bottom
sediments.Spreading heavy metals in the water column may subsequently be accumulated in sediment
because of low solubility then become sensitivity indicator for aquatic organism. Ecological risk
is assessed through the heavy metals concentration in the sediment. This research was undertaken in
order to determine and analyze various heavy metals present in sediments taken from mid-Black Sea
coast. Five heavy metals: cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) were
determined by Perkin Elmer Optima 4300DV Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer
(ICP-OES). Potential ecological risk indexes (Er) were used to study the pollution status of heavy
metals in sediments and assess their potential ecological risk to the environment. Considering the
potential ecological risk coefficient (Er) results calculated in accordance with the highest result
metals Cr 0.068 , Cu 0,122, Zn 0,0146 , Cd 138.45 , Pb 0.037. According to this four heavy metals
(Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb) under investigation in sediments reflected a low ecological risk to mid-Black Sea
coast, but for Cd considerable ecological risk for the water body.The cause of pollution in
mid-Black Sea could be associated with industrial and human activities. Strategies will be proposed
that can be applied in order to prevent accumulation of heavy metals.
Key words: Ecological risk assessment, heavy metals,sediment.