Heavy metal occurrence and geochemical fractionation: The relationships of catchment soils to associated estuarine sediments

Abstract

Catchment soils and surface sediments from the associated estuary in Northwest England have been analysed for total Fe, Mn, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn and the distribution of these metals between geochemical fractions. The results indicate that metal behaviours in the soils and sediments are different, the soils showing greater leaching tendency than the sediments. For the soils, considerable variations in total metal and non-residual concentrations were found at different localities, while the same metal fractions in the sediments were uniformly distributed.