US EPA

1360026 

Technical Report 

Distribution of arsenic, cadium, lead, zinc, copper, manganese, and iron contained in the bottom sediment of Lake Biwa 

Kobayashi, J; Morii, F; Muramoto, S; Nakashima, S; Teraoka, H; Horie, S 

1976 

HEEP/77/12241 

16 

4 

147-163 

HEEP COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. From the sediment of Lake Biwa (Japan), a total of 76 samples were collected and analyzed for As, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. As concerns the horizontal distribution of trace metals in the surface sediment deposited in modern ages, a remarkable accumulation of As (126-450 ppm) and Mn (8300-17,300 ppm) was observed at several points near the center of the northern main part of the lake basin, where pollution had not been expected. In the southern part of the lake, the surface sediment near the Seta River which flows out of the lake was polluted by Cd and other metals (Cd 26 ppm, Pb 259 ppm, Zn 736 ppm). At other points investigated, the content of trace metals in the bottom surface sediment was much the same as that in the vertical core samples from below the level polluted by man. The high concentration of trace metals detected in the surface sediment indicated that the natural process of accumulation of trace metals has begun to be disrupted by recent human activity.