Natural and anthropogenic sources of lead, zinc, and nickel in sediments of Lake Izabal, Guatemala

Sediments in Lake Izabal,Guatemala,contain substantial lead (Pb),zinc (Zn),and nickel (Ni).The lack of historical data for heavy metal concentrations in the sediments makes it difficult to determine the sources or evaluate whether inputs of metals to the lake have changed through time.We measured the relative abundances and concentrations of Pb,Zn,and Ni by X-Ray Fluorescence core scanning and by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry in three sediment cores to explore stratigraphic distributions of metals in the lake deposits.High amounts of Pb and Zn in the core taken near the Polochic Delta suggest that galena and sphalerite mining increased Pb and Zn delivery to Lake Izabal between ~1945 and 1965 CE.An up-core Ni increase in the core taken near a different mine on the north shore of Lake Izabal suggests that recent nickel mining operations led to an increase in Ni concentrations in the local sediments,but amounts in the other cores indicate that Ni is not widely distributed throughout the lake.Sediment cores from Lake Izabal are reliable recorders of heavy metal input to the lake,and were measured to establish background metal levels,which would otherwise be unavailable.Concentrations of Pb,Zn,and Ni in older,pre-20th-century Lake Izabal sediments reflect input from natural erosion of bedrock.Our results provide previously unavailable estimates of background metal concentrations in Lake Izabal before the onset of mining.These results are necessary for future monitoring related to mining contamination of the lake ecosystem.

Tissue distribution of perfluoroalkyl acids and health status in wild Mozambique tilapia(Oreochromis mossambicus) from Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga, South Africa

This study examined concentrations of 15 perfluoroalkyl acids（PFAAs） in tissues from male Mozambique tilapia（Oreochromis mossambicus） collected at Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga,South Africa in 2014 and 2016. Nine of the 15 PFAAs were detected frequently and were included in statistical analysis and included two of the most commonly known PFAAs,perfluorooctanesulfonic acid（PFOS）（median, 41.6 ng/g） and perfluorooctanoic acid（PFOA）（median, 0.0825 ng/g）. Of the tissues measured, plasma（2016 and 2014 median, 22.2 ng/g）contained the highest PFAA burden followed by（in descending order）： liver（median,11.6 ng/g）, kidney（median, 9.04 ng/g）, spleen（median, 5.92 ng/g）, adipose（median, 2.54 ng/g）, and muscle（median, 1.11 ng/g）. Loskop Dam tilapia have been affected by an inflammatory disease of the adipose tissue known as pansteatitis, so this study also aimed to investigate relationships between PFAA tissue concentrations and incidence of pansteatitis or fish health status. Results revealed that healthy tilapia exhibited an overall higher（p-value 〈 0.05） PFAA burden than pansteatitis-affected tilapia across all tissues.Further analysis showed that organs previously noted in the literature to contain the highest PFAA concentrations, such as kidney, liver, and plasma, were the organs driving the difference in PFAA burden between the two tilapia groups. Care must be taken in the interpretations we draw from not only the results of our study, but also other PFAA measurements made on populations（human and wildlife alike） under differing health status.