Determination of Mercury, Cadmium, Lead and Arsenic in rivers of the mining area of the Titihuapa River sub-basin, Cabañas, El Salvador, C.A.
Keywords:
Titihuapa, Minerals, Sediments, Mining, Pollution, Sub-basin, NEL, Environmental, Mercury, Cadmium, Lead, ArsenicAbstract
The sub-basin of the Titihuapa River in the department of Cabañas houses part of the Tertiary volcanism of El Salvador in that region, and therefore has an abundance of minerals. The mining activity that developed since the end of the 19th century, made this area appear as one of the most favorable for the exploitation of gold and silver in El Salvador. However, this mining prosperity could have led to the metallic contamination of a good part of the Titihuapa river basin. The methodology used included taking sediment samples at sites located at the confluence points of the tributary rivers to the Titihuapa sub-basin, which were protected and transported to the laboratory for their respective analysis using atomic absorption techniques, graphite furnace method. and flame generator method. The Slight Effects Level (NEL) of the Guide for the Evaluation of Sediments, of the Department of Environmental Protection of New Jersey, 1998 was used as a parameter. The concentrations of Hg, Cd and Pb are below the values of the NEL. As concentrations, most of them exceed the NEL which is 6.0 µg / g.
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