Natural and enhanced concentrations of trace metals in sediments of Cleveland Bay, Great Barrier Reef lagoon, Australia

Abstract

Natural variation in concentrations of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in sediments of Cleveland Bay can be modelled by linear regression by using the concentration of Al recovered by strong acid digestion as an independent variable. Samples that exceed the upper 95% prediction interval of regression models are classified as enhanced, Enhancement of trace metals occurs in the intertidal zone and near-shore sediments of western Cleveland Bay, in sites that are characterized by high accumulation rates of fine grained terrigenous sediment. There is a strong positive relationship between increasing enhancement of Cu and Pb and the recovery of these metals by weak HCl digestion, which suggests that for these metals the modelled enhancement-is environmentally meaningful. In contrast, at least 60%, and generally greater than 80% of Cd is recovered by weak HCl digestion irrespective of modelled enhancement, and suggests that the statistically modelled enhancement of Cd may be more meaningful than weak HCl soluble concentrations.