Evaluation of heavy metal pollution in the surface sediments of ennore estuary, Tamil nadu, India

A study was conducted in Ennore estuary for the assessment of the surface sediments with respect to contamination factor and through geoaccumulation index. The data analysed shows that the cadmium, copper, lead and zinc concentrations were above the low interim sediment quality guidelines of ANZECC and below the high interim sediment quality guidelines of ANZECC during post-monsoon, summer, pre-monsoon and monsoon. The surface sediments of the Ennore estuary was highly contaminated with cadmium, copper, lead and zinc. The geoaccumulation index showed that the surface sediments were moderately to extremely polluted. The concentrations of trace metals were high in station 4 followed by station 3, station 2 and station 1 especially during monsoon. The correlation with the stations was highly significant. Zinc concentrations were high followed by copper, lead and cadmium. The major sources for the contamination of the heavy metals would had controlled by anthropogenic inputs from point and non-point sources.