article · Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Burullus Lagoon forms part of Egypt's protected area network and acts as a reservoir for agricultural drainage water. Analysis of four sediment cores from the lagoon used lead-210 and caesium-137 radiometric dating alongside neutron activation analysis to reconstruct the historical record of heavy metal contamination. The constant rate of supply model emerged as the most accurate chronological method, revealing an average sedimentation rate of 0.85 centimetres per year. Substantial shifts in sedimentation rates occurred after the 1990s, matching an increased flux of heavy metals from human activities. Evaluated enrichment factors showed notable accumulations across multiple elements, while pollution indexing demonstrated slightly polluted conditions that intensify toward agricultural drains. These findings indicate that regional urbanisation and industrial development have progressively increased metal deposition, threatening to reduce the water body's size and degrade overall water quality.
Coastal lagoons and protected wetlands often absorb runoff from expanding cities, industries, and farms. Establishing a precise historical timeline of heavy metal accumulation helps environmental managers understand how human expansion degrades aquatic ecosystems over time, supporting better protection strategies for vital water bodies and coastal wetlands.
The abstract does not indicate a direct commercialisation pathway, as the work is early-stage environmental baseline research. However, the demonstrated combination of radiometric dating and neutron activation analysis could be utilised by environmental consultancy firms, regulatory authorities, or coastal zone managers seeking to monitor pollution risks and sediment accumulation in vulnerable wetlands.
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Burullus lagoon is part of Egypt's protected area network. The lagoon serves as a reservoir for drainage water discharged from agricultural areas, and the lake's sediments provide a unique opportunity to record environmental behavior and reconstruct of the heavy metal contamination history. In the present study, the sediment chronology, sedimentation rates, and metal accumulation fluxes were estimated in four sediment cores using <sup>210</sup>Pb dating models to evaluate how human activities have affected the coastal environment. Using the radioisotopes <sup>210</sup>Pb and <sup>137</sup>Cs, radiometric dating was carried out using gamma-ray spectrometry. At the Egypt Second Research Reactor (ETRR-2), the element concentrations were determined using the instrumented neutron activation analysis (INAA- k<sub>0</sub> method). Our findings show that the constant rate of supply (CRS), which has been verified with the peak of artificial radionuclide <sup>137</sup>Cs, is the best model performed for the chronology of Burullus Lagoon. The average sedimentation rate, according to <sup>210</sup>Pb dating models, is 0.85 cm/year. The large variation in sedimentation rates, especially after the 1990s, is consistent with an increase in the anthropogenic flux of heavy metals. This may be led into a significant environmental problem such as reducing the size of the lake and degrading the quality the water in Burullus Lagoon. Enrichment factor (EF) of the studied elements displayed the following order: Cl > Ca > Na > Br > Zn > Ta > Ti > V > Cr > Sc > Mg > Mn > Fe > Hf which is higher than unity. Furthermore, the Nemerow pollution index (PI <sub>Nemerow</sub>) revealed that pollution was increasing in the direction of the drains and slightly polluted. Consequently, pollutant indices showed that urbanization and industrial development may have increased the depositional fluxes of the metals in sediments over time.
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DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-33761-5
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