Monitoring of heavy metals in coastal and estuarine sediments ‐ a question of grain‐size: <20 μm versus <60 μm

Abstract

Abstract Twenty‐two sediment samples were taken from a small narrowly delimited area of the Elbe estuary with homogeneous heavy metal pollution. The <20 μm and the <60 μm grain‐size fractions where separated by sieving and analysed for 16 trace elements, using the INAA and the XRF methods. The concentrations determined on the <20 μm. fraction proved to vary much less from one sample to another than those of the <60 μm fraction and thus provided much more comparable data. The concentrations ratios of C(<20 μm) to C(<60 μm) ranged from 1:1.2 to 1:5. It is suggested that the separated <20 μm fraction be used for the monitoring of heavy metals in sediments.