Traces of Cu, Mn and Zn in Aquatic Animals, Water and Sediments from the Cris River Basin West Romania. Part II: Distribution Study

The paper presents the determination of Cu, Mn and Zn (TRT r.f.CCP-AES, FAAS) in water, sediment and aquatic animals (fish fillet, freshwater molluscs gills and muscles) collected in the basin of the Cris rivers (White Cris and Black Cris) in West Romania. The concentrations in water were in the range: 1-15 pg Lr1 (Cu), 10-1500 pg L-1 (Mn), 3-100 pg L-1 (Zn). Metal contents, as dry mass fractions, w^m x IO6, were: 5-380 (Cu), 225-2000 (Mn), 23-1140 (Zn) in sediment; 1-11 (Cu), 4-40 (Mn), 8-130 (Zn) in fish fillet, and 5-34 (Cu), 100-600 (Mn) and 50-130 (Zn) in mollusc muscles with higher values for the White Cris samples. Among the seven sample collection sites only one was identified as having concentrations of Mn and Zn in water higher than the admitted levels, but the limits of tolerance for aquatic organisms were not exceeded in either river. In mollusc gills, the metal contents expressed as wdm x IO6 were: 8-60 (Cu), 11000-16000 (Mn), 190-1200 (Zn), and similar for both rivers in the case of Mn

Traces of Cu, Mn and Zn in Aquatic Animals and Sediments from the Cris River Basin West Romania. Part I: Statistical Evaluation of Data Obtained by Atomic Emission Spectrometry with Radiofrequency Capacitively Coupled Plasma Source and Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

The limits of detection in r.f.CCP-AES were 2 (Cu), 6 (Mn) and 3 (Zn) pg g_1. Statistic evaluation of the results was based on 31 samples collected in the basin of the Cris rivers, Romania. After removing the samples with a metal concentration lower than the limit of determination in TRT r.f.CCP-AES, the F-test (95% confidence level) showed similar precision in the two methods, with one exception in the case of Mn and one in the case of Zn. From 21, 28 and 31 determinations of Cu, Mn and Zn, statistical correlation and regression as well as the analysis of Bland and Altman (95% confidence level) showed systematic errors in TRT r.f.CCP-AES versus FAAS only in one case for Cu, two cases for Mn and one case for Zn. The metal content amounted to: 10-400 pg g-1 (Cu), 20-16000 pg g-1 (Mn) and 20-1200 pg g-1 (Zn)