Abstract—This study was conducted using the data collected at the mouth of Love River to investigate and analyze Copper (Cu) contained in the sediments, and to evaluate the accumulation of Cu and the degree of its potential risk. The results show that samples collected at all monitoring stations near the mouth of Love River contain 84–300 mg/kg of Cu with average of 193±63 mg/kg. The spatial distribution of Cu reveals that the Cu concentration is relatively high in the river mouth region, and gradually diminishes toward the harbor region. This indicates that upstream industrial and municipal wastewater discharges along the river bank are major sources of pollution. The accumulation factor and potential ecological risk index indicate that the sedimentation at Love River mouth has the most serious degree of Cu accumulation and the ighest ecological potential risk.
Index Terms—Copper, sediment, river mmouth, enrichment factor
The authors are with the Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Kaohsiung 81157,Taiwan (e-mail: cwchen@mail.nkmu.edu.tw,dong3762@mail.nkmu.edu.tw, cddong@mail.nkmu.edu.tw).
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Cite: Chiu-Wen Chen, Chih-Feng Chen, and Cheng-Di Dong, "Copper Contamination in the Sediments of Love River Mouth, Taiwan," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 58-62, 2012.
