Biogeochemical characterisation of an ecosystem using ICP-AES

This paper presents the determination of the total concentration of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead(Pb), zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni) in t he biotop (sandy sediment and water) and biocenose (mature and young plants of Phragmites sp.) for a tertiary biological treatment stage of a petroche mical effluent. Analyses were performed using the ICP-AES technique after t he chemical mineralisation of the samples with a Digestahl device. The meta l (cadmium,copper, lead, zinc and chromium) concentrations in mature plants were higher than those in the sediments. At the same time, the young plant s contained higher quantities of nickel, lead and zinc than the mature ones , and also lower quantities of cadmium, chromium and copper.