Fluvial responses towards the tannery effluent: Tracing the anthropogenic foot-prints

Abstract

Tannery-effluent is one of the top-ranked hazardous waste which is generally discharged into the river. To study the fluvial response toward the tannery-effluents and to trace anthropogenic foot-prints in the fluvial-system, a suite of systematically collected sediment and water samples were analyzed for radioactive (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K) and non-radioactive elements (Al, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sb, Hg, and Pb). Neutron activation analysis and atomic absorption spectroscopy were used for elemental analysis, whereas HPGe-gamma-detector was used for measuring the primordial-radionuclides. Ranges of Cr-abundances in sediment and water were 63–4373 μg.g⁻¹ and 15.6–52.2 μg.L⁻¹, respectively which were ∼4–14 times higher than the geological background. Radioactivity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K ranged from 17.7–48.5, 36.1–81.6, and 687–1041 Bq.kg⁻¹, respectively