Vincent-Akpu I.F. , Offiong U.S.

Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 58   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0058
Received: 29 Jul., 2015    Accepted: 28 Aug., 2015    Published: 19 Nov., 2015

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Vincent-Akpu I. F., Offiong U.S., 2015, Distribution of Trace Metals in Water and Sediments of Qua Iboe River Estuary, Nigeria, International Journal of Marine Science, 5(58): 1-6 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0058) 

 

Surface water and sediments collected from three stations along Qua Iboe Estuary, Niger Delta between January and June 2013 were analyzed for Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd). The trace metal concentrations (mg/L) in surface water were 0.08, 0.17, 0.01, 0.004 for Fe, Zn, Pb and Cd, respectively and 0.59, 0.33, 0.04 and 0.02 mg/kg in sediments respectively for the same metals. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the trace metals for all seasons except Pb in water (p>0.05). Positive significant correlations (p<0.05) exist between the metals in sediments which revealed their co-accumulation potentials. Trace metal concentrations in water and sediment were below the maximum permissible level recommended by national and international standards except for lead in water. Thus Qua Iboe estuary is relatively suitable for fish production and domestic use despite effluent discharges into the estuary.

water permissible level; surface water; sediment; Qua Iboe; Niger Delta