Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2004 number 5

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the contents of heavy metals (HM) in the water, suspended matter (SM), and bottom sediments (BS) of the Ob river based on the results of long-term monitoring. The spatial distribution of metals along the middle and lower course of the Ob river is affected by its large tributaries such as Tom', Chulym, and Irtysh and by the Novosibirsk reservoir, as well as by large cities (Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Nizhnevartovsk). The metal distribution at the interface between water and bottom sediments depends on the hydrological and hydrochemical conditions and is the major factor that is responsible for the higher contents of heavy metals in the bottom sediments of the Novosibirsk reservoir compared with the channel and still water lines of the river. The calculated concentration factors depend on the nature of the metal; the least factors were obtained for lead and zinc. Previous data obtained for the Ob reservoir and the upper Ob in general are discussed.