Spatial and Temporal Heavy Metal Concentration (Cu,Pb, Zn,Hg, Fe,Mn, Hg) in Sediments of the Mar Piccolo in Taranto (Ionian Sea,Italy)

The Mar Piccolo (surface area of 20.72 km²) is located in the Northern area of the Taranto town (Ionian Sea, Italy). It is an inner, semi-enclosed basin with lagoon features connected with the Mar Grande through two channels which are very important for water exchange. Mar Piccolo basin is subjected to urbanization, industry, agriculture, aquaculture and commercial fishing. Hence, it is important to have a temporal picture both of heavy metal content and of organic carbon and their distribution (hydrophobic fraction, hydrophilic fraction, humic compounds) to check the progress of pollution in time. Three sediment cores collected on the basis of the pollution sources have been analyzed. Both heavy metal and organic carbon concentrations underline the fact that the anthropogenic input is different in the three sites, and that in time the amount of pollutants coming into the Mar Piccolo have changed in different ways. The high amount of organic hydrophilic compounds present in sediments, both due to the small water depth and to the high accumulation rate, make the sediment site high in oxygen consumption due to a considerable chemical and biochemical transformations of organic matter.     

Erratum to: Spatial and Temporal Heavy Metal Concentration (Cu,Pb, Zn,Hg, Fe,Mn, Ni) in Sediments of the Mar Piccolo in Taranto (Ionian Sea,Italy)

Water, Air, &; Soil Pollution -     

Change in Soil's Metal Carrying Capacity as a Result of Urban Sludge Addition

The present work investigates the behaviour of heavymetals accumulating in soils treated with urban sludge withrespect to untreated soils. Metal sorption during transportin the soils was evaluated by means of breakthrough curvesobtained via the soil column leaching test and the resultsof laboratory experiments were compared with those of fieldexperiments carried out on the same soil treated insitu with urban sludge. Soil column leaching tests showthat the amount of heavy metals retained in the soilincreases when the soil is treated with sludge both in situand in laboratory; the order of selectivity (Pb > Cu > Zn >Ni) remains similar for the two types of matrix.Experiments carried out both with soils treated with sludge in laboratory and in situ show a good agreementbetween the two sets of data as far as retention capacityis concerned; conversely, an increase in the soil resistance to pH change following acid input is observedwhen sludge treatments are carried out in situ.