Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in the Sediments of the Lower Litani River Basin, Lebanon

Concentrations of eight heavy metals (Cu, Fe, Cd, Mn, Cr, Zn, Ni, and Pb) were determined in this study to evaluate their levels and spatial distribution in sediments from the Lower Litani River Basin (LLRB) in six sites, during the dry seasons for the period from 2011 to 2012. Consensus- based sediments quality guidelines of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources were applied to assess metal contamination in these sediments. The range of the measured concentrations in the total sediments were determined for dry weights to the total sediments. The samples were characterized by a set of cation exchange capacity, granulometric, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Pearson’s correlation was also performed in this study to compare and determine the correlation between heavy metals in these sediments. Geo- accumulation (Igeo) index, Contamination Factor (Cf), and contamination degree (Cd) were also applied to assess the level of contamination in these sites. The results of this study show that the concentrations of Pb and Fe are high in the sites S5 and S6, and the values of Cr and Ni are high in site S6. All of the investigated sites are characterized by a moderate to a highly-polluted range of contamination, with the degree of contamination increasing during the dry season.