Metals in sediments of Texas estuaries, USA

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Concentrations of metals (Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cr, V, Fe, and Al) were determined in sediments from 34 sites within the estuaries of Texas, USA. Anomalies in metal concentrations were found at some sites and were related to probable sources such as military facilities, landfill leaching, and municipal and industrial discharges. The metal concentrations were normalized to Fe and Al for distinguishing natural and anthropogenic sources. Most metals showed positive correlations with Fe and Al which suggests the natural variability of metals in sediments. The concentrations of metals, except Cd, at most of the sites were found to be below threshold concentrations thought to produce toxic effects in marine and estuarine organisms.