Heavy metals in Lake Balaton: water column, suspended matter, sediment and biota.

During the period 1999-2002, five sampling cruises have been carried out on Lake Balaton to assess trace metal distribution in the lake and to identify major sources. Eighteen elements, including Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb (trace metals) and Al, Ba, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Sr (major metals), were determined in one or more of the lake's compartments. Lower trace metal concentrations in rainwater were observed in June and February 2000, while much higher levels were present in September 2001 (during a storm event) and in snow (February 2000). In the Northern and Western parts of the lake, especially at the inflow of river Zala and the locations of the yacht harbours, metal concentrations were higher in almost all compartments. Because the lake is very shallow, storm conditions also change significantly the metal distributions in the dissolved and particulate phases. The Kis-Balaton protection system located on Zala river functions very efficiently for retaining suspended particulate matter (SPM; 72% retention) and associated metals. Metal concentrations in surface sediments of the lake showed a high variability. After normalisation for the fine sediment fraction, only a few stations including Zala mouth appeared to be enriched in trace metals. In zooplankton, Zn seemed to be much more elevated compared to the other trace metals. Based on the molar ratios of the trace metals in the various compartments and input flows of the lake, several trends could be deduced. For example, molar ratios of the trace metals in the dissolved and solid (suspended particulate matter and sediments) phases in the lake are fairly similar to those in Zala River.

[1]  J. Hlavay,et al.  Chemical Speciation of Elements in Sediment Samples Collected at Lake Balaton , 1998 .

[2]  V. Kavun,et al.  Metal accumulation in mussels of the Kuril Islands, north-west Pacific Ocean. , 2002, Marine environmental research.

[3]  V. Sharma,et al.  Metals in sediments of Texas estuaries, USA , 1999 .

[4]  J. Hlavay,et al.  Fractionation of elements in sediment samples collected in rivers and harbors at Lake Balaton and its catchment area , 2000 .

[5]  Guebuem Kim,et al.  Atmospheric wet deposition of trace elements to Chesapeake and Delaware Bays , 2000 .

[6]  F. Elbaz-Poulichet,et al.  Biogeochemistry of trace metals (Mn, Sr, Rb, Ba, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd) in a river-wetland-lake system (Balaton Region, Hungary) , 1996 .

[7]  C. Barbante,et al.  Heavy metals in fresh snow collected at different altitudes in the Chamonix and Maurienne valleys, French Alps: initial results , 2001 .

[8]  J. Galloway,et al.  Trace metals in atmospheric deposition: A review and assessment , 1982 .

[9]  D. Kampbell,et al.  Total, dissolved, and bioavailable metals at Lake Texoma marinas. , 2003, Environmental pollution.

[10]  R. M. Galvín.  Occurrence of metals in waters : an overview , 1996 .

[11]  L. Brügmann.  Metals in sediments and suspended matter of the river Elbe , 1995 .

[12]  S. Kurunczi,et al.  Mercury distribution and speciation in Lake Balaton, Hungary. , 2005, The Science of the total environment.

[13]  L. Danielsson,et al.  Trace metal determinations in estuarine waters by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after extraction of dithiocarbamate complexes into freon , 1982 .

[14]  D. Parry,et al.  Determination of Trace Metals in Sea-water by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry After Off-line Dithiocarbamate Solvent Extraction , 1997 .

[15]  Peter M. Chapman,et al.  Appropriate applications of sediment quality values for metals and metalloids , 1999 .

[16]  J. Zwolsman,et al.  Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Trace Metals in Sediments from the Scheldt Estuary, South-west Netherlands , 1996 .

[17]  D. Parry,et al.  Trace metals, arsenic and lead isotopes in dissolved and particulate phases of North Australian coastal and estuarine seawater , 2001 .

[18]  M. Angelidis,et al.  Normalization to lithium for the assessment of metal contamination in coastal sediment cores from the Aegean Sea, Greece. , 2001, Marine environmental research.

[19]  Hao Zhang,et al.  Heavy Metals and Arsenic in Sediments, Mussels and Marine Water from Murano (Venice, Italy) , 2002 .

[20]  D. Loring,et al.  Manual for the geochemical analyses of marine sediments and suspended particulate matter , 1992 .

[21]  R. Battarbee,et al.  Distribution of some trace metals in Lochnagar, a Scottish mountain lake ecosystem and its catchment. , 2002, The Science of the total environment.

[22]  B. Pavoni,et al.  Heavy metal contamination in surface sediments from the Gulf of Venice, Italy , 1981 .

[23]  S. Stürup,et al.  High resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICPMS) determination and multivariate evaluation of 10 trace elements in mussels from 7 sites in Limfjorden, Denmark , 2000, Fresenius' journal of analytical chemistry.

[24]  W. Baeyens,et al.  Correlations, partitioning and bioaccumulation of heavy metals between different compartments of Lake Balaton. , 2005, The Science of the total environment.

[25]  J. Hlavay,et al.  Investigation in a highly polluted industrial city: Correlation between air pollution sources and deposited dusts , 1994 .

[26]  J. Hlavay,et al.  Investigation on the pollution sources of bottom sediments in the Lake Balaton , 2002 .

[27]  W. Baeyens,et al.  The biogeochemical behaviour of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the Scheldt estuary: results of the 1995 surveys , 2004, Hydrobiologia.

[28]  W. Baeyens,et al.  Biogeochemical behaviour of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the Scheldt estuary during the period 1981–1983 , 2004, Hydrobiologia.

[29]  C. Folt,et al.  Accumulation of heavy metals in food web components across a gradient of lakes , 2000 .

[30]  W. Baeyens,et al.  Mercury speciation in Lake Baikal , 1995 .