Environmental study of Lake Valencia

Abstract

The sediments accumulated at the bottom of a body of water are of great value for studying these ecosystems, as they preserve the historical record of what has occurred there. Pollutants released into an aquatic system are deposited in the sediment when the current velocity decreases and can be gradually released into the water column. The regulator of this distribution of metals between the sediment and the water, in sediments where there is no oxygen, is the sulfide ion, which reacts with free metals in the water to form metallic sulfides, insoluble compounds that settle at the bottom. Therefore, as soon as sulfides are detected in the environment, it is likely that the metals have already settled in the sediment. Sediments act as a diffuse source of pollutants, even after the primary source of contamination is deactivated. For this reason, the sediments of some highly polluted areas must be constantly monitored. The same occurs with heavy metals; when released into aquatic ecosystems, they become part of the sediment. Heavy metals, unlike other compounds, do not degrade but accumulate. Hence the importance of this project, which aims to evaluate the biogeochemical behavior of surface sediments in Lake Valencia in order to obtain a general understanding of ecosystem pollution, since the geospatial distribution of heavy metal concentrations in each sediment fraction must be established.