The influence of fly and bottom ash deposition on the quality of Kastela Bay sediments

The objective of this study was chemical and radiological characterization of Kastela Bay sediments exposed to numerous anthropogenic sources like deposition of fly and bottom ash enriched in radionuclides and heavy metals, chemical plant, cement plant, iron plant, shipyard, electroplating facility, untreated industrial and domestic waste waters as well as heavy traffic. Totally, 33 samples of the mixture of fly and bottom ash, 12 sediment cores ranging from 0 to 40 cm and nine surface sediment samples were analyzed. Enrichment in heavy metals in the mixture of fly and bottom ash was ranging from 1.5 to 36 times compared to flysch soil while ²²⁶Ra and ²³⁸U were up to 50 times enriched compared to average activities characteristic for surrounding soils developed on the Middle and Upper Eocene flysch. Maximum ²³⁸U activity was approximately 32 times higher and ²²⁶Ra approximately 40 times higher in the Kastela Bay sediment compared to mean value determined for Adriatic sediments. The highest enrichment in sediment cores compared to background values were found for Zn (35.6 times), Pb (16 times), Cr (9.1 times) and Ni (4 times)