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Revista Boliviana de Química

versión On-line ISSN 0250-5460

Resumen

GARCIA, M.E. et al. HEAVY METALS IN AQUATIC PLANTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO CONCENTRATIONS IN SURFACE WATER, GROUNDWATER AND SEDIMENTS - A CASE STUDY OF POOPÓ BASIN, BOLIVIA. Rev. Bol. Quim [online]. 2005, vol.22, n.1, pp.11-18. ISSN 0250-5460.

The uptake of the heavy metals Cd, Zn, Pb, As, and Fe by aquatic plants - thereby entering the human food chain - was studied in the Poopó basin, located in the semiarid, central Andean highland of Bolivia. At twenty sites around Poopó and Uru-Uru lakes, samples of aquatic plants, sediments, surface water and groundwater were taken. The spatial distribution of heavy metals indicate that most of the Cd and Pb influx into the semiarid Poopó basin results from mining activities and subordinate from geothermal activities, which are both located in the NE of Poopó basin. Also, arsenic concentrations are of similar magnitudes, released from mining activities and natural weathering of As-bearing rocks and predominantly observed in the W, SE, and S of Poopó basin. In the aquatic plants, concentrations of Cd, Zn, Pb and As were found in the ranges 0.0-45.0, 0-197, 0-858, and 83-943 mg/kg, respectively. The heavy metal concentrations found in aqueous plants are correlated to varying extents to the corresponding heavy metal concentrations in sediments, surface water and groundwater. High Cd and Pb concentration in aquatic plants sampled within Poopó Lake (15-23 and 858-936 mg/kg, respectively) correlate strongly with high Cd and Pb concentrations of its alkaline water (1.37-1.51 and 0.36-0.38 mg/L, respectively) as well as with high Cd and Pb concentrations in the lake sediments (20-25 and 210-260 mg/kg, respectively). However, at other sampling sites of the basin this correlation of Cd does not always exist. For As and Zn, no correlation could be found between the respective concentrations in aquatic plants, sediments, surface water and groundwater. There is no correlation between Cd, Zn, and Pb concentrations in surface water and groundwater. This shows that these heavy metals are predominantly fixed in the sediments and taken up by plants and/or transported as sediment load to Poopó Lake (Cd, Zn, and Pb cations are only stable in larger amounts under acidic conditions, e.g. in the acidic rivers influenced by mining activities, and nearby groundwater bodies, which are found in the NE of Poopó basin). In contrast the anions of arsenic are more soluble in surface water and groundwater with a neutral or slightly alkaline pH.

Palabras clave : Poopó basin; heavy metals; aquatic plants; groundwater; surface water; sediments; anthropogenic contamination; natural contamination.

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