Seasonal variations in physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals in water and sediments of Uppanar estuary, Nagapattinam, India.

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out to determine the physico-chemical characteristics and heavy metals in water and sediments in Uppanar Estuary, Nagapattinam, Southeast coast of India during January to December 2007. The minimum and maximum values of atmospheric and surface water temperatures (oC), salinity (‰), pH and dissolved oxygen (ml l-1) were 26.0-35.0; 25.0-33.5; 8.0-35.0; 7.2- 8.2 and 2.8-5.5 respectively. The ranges of nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and silicate were 7.05-24.23; 0.82-3.15; 0.31-2.18 and 40.0-198.0 (5M) respectively. The ranges of heavy metals in water (5g 1-1) and sediment (5g g-1) copper, zinc, cadmium and mercury were 2.45-18.25; 26.43-101.24; 1.23-24.35 and 0.01-0.22 and 5.02-81.27; 22.47-75.42; 2.25-10.06 and 0.01-0.16 respectively.