THE DETERMINATION OF METALS IN SEDIMENT PORE WATERS AND IN 1N HCL-EXTRACTED SEDIMENTS BY ICP-MS

Concentrations of metals in sediment interstitial water (pore water) a nd those extractable from sediment with weak acids can provide importa nt information about the bioavailability and toxicological effects of such contaminants. The highly variable nature of metal concentrations in these matrices requires instrumentation with the detection limit ca pability of graphite furnace atomic absorption and the wide dynamic li near range capability of ICP-OES. These criteria are satisfied with IC P-MS instrumentation. We investigated the performance of ICP-IMS in th e determination of certain metals from these matrices. The results for three metals were compared to those determined by graphite furnace at omic absorption spectroscopy. It was concluded that ICP-MS was an exce llent instrumental approach for the determination of metals in these m atrices.