Water Qual Expo Health (2011) 3:3749

DOI 10.1007/s12403-011-0042-y

Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Stream Water

and Sediments Affected by the Sungun Porphyry Copper Deposit,
East Azerbaijan Province, Northwest Iran
Farid Moore Kobra Esmaeili Behnam Keshavarzi

Received: 29 January 2011 / Accepted: 29 April 2011 / Published online: 21 May 2011
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract In recent decades, people attention to preservation of environment has increased which affected the mining plans and activities. Sungun Porphyry Copper Deposit
is located Northwest of Iran. In this study, environmental impact of copper mining in the Sungun region was
assessed using physicochemical, hydrochemical and geochemical properties of water and sediment. In May 2009, 87
samples including water and sediment were collected from
the 44 sampling stations along the Sungunchay, Ilginechay,
Zarnekabchay and Khuinerud Streams near the deposit. The
degree of heavy metal contamination in water and sediment
samples was calculated by the ratio of the metal concentration to the local background and global standards. Also,
the relation between the elements in water and sediment
samples was investigated using correlation coefficients analysis and factor analysis. The results show that concentration of selected heavy metals (copper, molybdenum, lead,
zinc and nickel) exceeds the maximum allowable concentrations in both water and sediment. However, among the
analyzed heavy metals, Cu and Mo have more enrichment
in water and sediments rather than the others. Mean values
of the pollution load indices of heavy metals in the sediment samples decrease in the following order: Sungunchay,
Ilginechay, Zarnekabchay and Khuinerud Streams. The results of multivariate analyses indicate that heavy metals in
the water samples have similar behavior (except for Mo)
during transportation in the riverine environment. Also in
the sediment samples, Cu and Mo are associated with Fe,
whereas Pb, Zn and Ni correlated with Mn. These results
are also in agreement with the calculated pollution indices.
F. Moore K. Esmaeili () B. Keshavarzi
Department of Earth Sciences, College of Sciences, Shiraz
University, Shiraz, Iran
e-mail: esmaeili.mgeo@gmail.com

Keywords Sungun porphyry copper deposit

Environmental assessment Heavy metal contamination
Factor analysis

Introduction
Studies on water and sediments in rivers impart essential
information on present-day continental geochemical processes (Chakrapani 2005), i.e., rock weathering, riverine
transport, sedimentation and diagenesis (Ranasinghe et al.
2008). Furthermore, a variety of anthropogenic activities
may change the dynamics of the riverine system and add
a variety of heavy metals contaminants (Ouyang et al. 2006;
Cortecci et al. 2009; Nguessan et al. 2009). In recent
years, pollution of water resources by heavy metals as a
result of mining and ore processing has become a problem of great concern throughout the world (Wennrich et al.
2004; Gupta et al. 2009). Heavy metals are serious pollutants in the environment because of persistence and nondegradability, bioaccumulation problems and their toxicity
in the ecosystem (Tam and Wong 2000; Klavins et al. 2000;
Yang et al. 2009). Metals enrichment seriously degrades
aquatic ecosystems and impairs the use of water for drinking, industry, agriculture and recreation as well as other purposes (Singh et al. 2000; Upadhyay et al. 2006). Sediments
in polluted areas represent the ultimate sink for heavy metals
discharged into the aquatic environment (Becker et al. 2001;
Mendiguch et al. 2007). However, heavy metals are not necessarily fixed permanently by the sediments and changes
in physicochemical conditions can result in the remobilization of heavy metals in to the water column (Soares
et al. 1999; Zhang 2009). Also, they may accumulate in
microorganisms (flora and fauna), which in turn may enter into the food chain and eventually cause human health

38

problems (Forstner and Muller 1973; Deniseger et al. 1990;

Schfer and Blanc 2002).
Bidhendi et al. (2007) and Nasrabadi et al. (2009) evaluated the influence of mining activity on the quality of regional surface water and groundwater in the Sungun region
(southeast of the Sungun Deposit).
Here in, to determine the degree of heavy metal contamination and probable influence of the Sungun Porphyry Copper Deposit on the surrounding environment, the water and
sediments of four streams flowing in this region (Sungunchay, Ilginechay, Zarnekabchay and Khuinerud) are investigated for the first time.
The main objectives of this study are:
(1) Determining the concentration and distribution of heavy
metals in water and sediments of four streams flowing
near the Sungun Porphyry Copper Deposit;
(2) Assessment of the environmental impact of mining on
these streams;
(3) Determining the degree of pollution caused by these
metals.
Furthermore, the results can provide a better understanding
of the important factors influencing the behavior of water
and sediment quality and thus aiding further river basin risk
assessment and management.

Fig. 1 Map of study area and sampling stations

F. Moore et al.

Study Area
Sungun Porphyry Copper Deposit is located approximately
100 km northeast of Tabriz City (46 43 E, 38 43 N), northwest of Iran (Fig. 1). Elevation ranges between 1645 m and
2700 m. Climate is cold in winter and moderate in summer
and the temperature ranges from 20C to 33C, respectively. Because of high humidity, the area is compactly covered with vegetation and forest plants. Mean annual precipitation is 400 mm the main streams flowing near the Sungun
Deposit are: Sungunchay, Pakhirchay, Ilginechay, Zarnekabchay and Khuinerud (Fig. 1). The deposit is located between two stream valleys of Sungunchay and Pakhirchay
streams and the ore processing plant is located along the
Sungunchay stream. Sungunchay and Pakhirchay streams
join downstream to form Ilginechay stream. Tailing dam of
Sungun Porphyry Copper Deposit is located on the Zarnekabchay stream, southwest of the mine pit (Fig. 1). Sungun
Deposit with over 500 Mt of sulfide ore comprising 0.76%
Cu and 0.01% Mo is the second major porphyry copper deposits associated with calc-alkaline intrusive rocks in
Cenozoic Sahand-Bazman volcanic belt of northwest Iran
(Hezarkhani 2006).
The Sungun porphyry is Oligo-Miocen in age and the
intrusive complex occurs along the Sungun anticline into
Cretaceous limestone and andesitic trachytic Eocene tuffs

Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Stream Water and Sediments Affected by the Sungun

39

Fig. 2 Geological map of the Sungun Porphyry Copper Deposit (Hezarkhani 2006)

(equivalent to the Karaj Formation) and agglomerate along

the Sungun anticline. The major intrusive bodies are monzonite/quartzmonzonite in the west and later diorite/
granodiorite in the east (Fig. 2). Copper mineralization
occurs within the diorite/granodiorite, which is the most
strongly altered intrusive phase (Hezarkhani and WillimsJones 1998). Skarn-type alteration and associated mineralization forms a narrow rim along the eastern and northern
margins of the stock in the Sungun valley (Lescuyer et al.
1978).

Material and Methods

Sampling and Analyses
Sampling was carried out in May 2009 from 44 stations along the Sungunchay, Ilginechay, Zarnekabchay and
Khuinerud streams and their tributaries. A total of 43 water and 44 sediment samples were collected. The sampling
stations are plotted in Fig. 1. Physical properties of water
samples, including pH, redox potential (Eh), electric conductivity (EC) and temperature were measured in-situ, using portable devices. At each sampling station, polyethylene
sampling bottles were rinsed at least three times before collecting the water sample. Two sets of water samples were
collected (the first set was used for heavy metals analysis,
and the second for anions analysis and major cations). The

water was collected beneath the surface of the stream and

the bottle was completely filled and capped under the water
to avoid contamination from atmospheric CO2 . For heavy
metal analysis, samples were filtered through 0.45 m pore
size filter and were acidified to pH < 2 by adding a few drop
of extra pure HNO3 and kept in a refrigerator at about 4C
until analysis time. Surface sediments (05 cm) were collected using a pre-cleaned plastic spoon, and were stored in
plastic bags. Collected sediment samples were then air-dried
and as fine-grained sediments tend to have relatively high
metal concentrations due in part to the high specific surface
area, the smaller than 63 m size fractions were separated
for chemical analysis. Anion and cation concentrations in
water samples were measured in the hydrochemical laboratory of Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex (Iran). Heavy metal
concentrations in water and sediment samples were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
(ICP-MS) in the Acme Analytical Laboratories (Canada).
Replicate samples were used to check for precision.
In this study, concentration of heavy metals in water and
sediment sample taken from site1 is considered as the natural background level since this station is located at upstream
of Sungunchay that there is no tributary or contamination
agent before this station.
Statistical Analyses
In the present study, in order to examine the relationship between heavy metals, correlation and factor analyses were

40

carried out on the dataset of total heavy metal content in

water and sediment samples.
Statistical methods were conducted using SPSS 16.0 for
windows. In mathematical terms, factor analysis involves
the following five major steps: (1) coding the variables
x1 , x2 , . . . , xp to have zero means and unit variance, i.e.,
standardization of the measurements to ensure that they all
have equal weight in the analysis; (2) calculating the covariance matrix C; (3) finding the eigenvalues 1 , 2 , . . . , p
and the corresponding eigenvectors a1 , a2 , . . . , ap ; (4) discarding any components that only account for a small proportion of the variation in datasets; and (5) developing
the factor loading matrix and performing a varimax rotation on the factor loading matrix to infer the principal
parameters (Marques et al. 2001; Bengraine and Marhaba
2003).
Fig. 3 Piper and Doruv
diagrams showing major cations
and anion composition of stream
waters at the Sungun region

F. Moore et al.

Results and Discussion

Physicochemical Properties of the Waters
The results of the physical and chemical analyses are plotted
on piper and durove diagrams (Fig. 3). Except for sample
W.12 (pH 5.85), the rest of the water samples have neutral to slightly alkaline (7.18.5) pH, reflecting the availability of carbonate host in the area. The presence of carbonate minerals and the resulting skarnization following the
intrusion of the granitoid rocks did not allow the formation of acidic water and acid mine drainage in the Sungun
region. Hence, the measured pH values are all within the
limits defined by WHO guidelines (6.58.5). Eh varies between 60.9 and 93.6 mV. The relationship between Eh and
pH shows that Eh is decreased with increasing pH; this relationship probably indicates the progressive reduction of

Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Stream Water and Sediments Affected by the Sungun

Fe2+ with deeper circulation associated with pH increase.

The EC values are generally below 1000 S/cm. The measured electric conductivity in Ilginechay and its tributaries,
Zarnekabchay and Khuinerud are below the recommended
values by EPA. As shown in durove diagram (Fig. 3), total
dissolved solids (TDS) of water, ranges widely from 243.52
to 2033.69, 480.67 to 610.17, 293.58 to 939.17 and 64.44 to
518.04 mg/l for Sungunchay, Ilginechay, Zarnekabchay and
Khuinerud, respectively. Plotting Major anion and cation
concentrations on piper diagram (Fig. 3) reveals two types
of water, that is, CaHCO3 and CaSO4, which very likely
indicate dynamic near-surface processes such as dissolution
of calcite, dissolution of metallic sulfides due to interaction
of water and sulfide-bearing materials (ore minerals) and
dissolution-precipitation of sulfates. Chemical composition
and total dissolved solids (TDS) of waters are also shown in
Fig. 3.
Heavy Metals in Water Samples
Concentration of heavy metals in each water sampling station is shown in Fig. 4 and also average of heavy metal concentrations in collected water samples from streams in the
vicinity of the Sungun Deposit are given in Table 1. The
rockwater interactions generally have resulted in the presence of dissolved ionic compounds in the river water. The
extent of heavy metal contamination in surface water is determined by comparing measured concentration ranges and
mean values in the Sungun region with average metal content in the World Rivers (Khan et al. 2005), and EPA water
quality criteria (US EPA 1999). The mean values of Mo, Cu,
Pb and Ni in the Sungunchay stream are, respectively, 37.94,
14.14, 1.29 and 3.41 times higher than the average levels in
the World River. Also, the mean values of Mo, Cu and Ni
in the Ilginechay are respectively 13.79, 5.94 and 1.56 and
the mean values of Mo and Cu in the Zarnekabchay stream
are 38.32 and 1.84 times higher than the average levels in
the World River. The mean concentrations of Mo, Cu and

41

Zn in the Khuinerud stream are 5.39, 2.06 and 1.18 times

higher than the average levels in the World River. In particular, among the analyzed metals, only dissolved Cu concentration in Sungunchay and Ilginechay exceeds US EPA
water quality criteria recommended for aquatic life forms
(Table 1). Comparison of mean concentration of the analyzed metals and background level indicates that in the Sungunchay the mean concentration of heavy metals except for
Zn is above the background. Also concentrations of Mo and
Ni in the Ilginechay, Mo in the Zarnekabchay and Mo and
Zn in Khuinerud are higher than natural background concentrations.
In order to determine the relationship between heavy
metals content (Fe + Mn + Mo + Cu + Pb + Zn + Ni + V)
and pH, Ficklin diagram was used (Cnovas et al. 2007). According to Ficklin diagram (Fig. 5), Sungun region streams
waters plot in the near-neutral, low metal field except for
W.6-12-33-18-19-2 that plot in the near-neutral, high metal
box. As shown in Fig. 1 tailing water enters to Sungunchay
at Station 6 and contains abnormally high concentration of
Mo (172.9 g/L) and cause the concentration of Mo in Sungunchay water increases from 2 g/L (W.5) to 109 g/L
(W.7). The higher metal load in Pakhirchay (W.18 and 19) is
probably due to the impact of waste dump on stream water.
Sample 12 was collected from an exploration tunnel (tunnel
No. 1) adjacent to Sungunchay stream and because of occurrence of sulfide minerals, heavy metals concentration in this
station is very high. In the future, oxidation of sulfide ores
probably causes low pH, high Eh and EC in aquatic systems (Rsner 1998; May et al. 2001) and therefore causes
increased heavy metal concentrations.
Heavy Metals in Sediment Samples
Metal concentrations in the sediments at the Sungun region
show varying and different behavior influenced by mineralization and mining activity. Mean concentration of heavy
metals in sediment samples are presented in Table 2. The

Table 1 Mean concentrations of heavy metals in streams of the study area and World River waters
Mean concentration (g/L)
Sungunchay
Ilginechay

Zarnekabchay

Khuinerud

Background
concentration (g/L)

World river
waters (g/L)a

Cu

28.3

11.9

3.7

4.1

Mo

64.5

23.4

65.2

9.2

1.7

Pb

1.9

0.4

0.3

0.4

0.6

1.5

Zn

13.2

9.4

15.8

21.2

16.6

Ni

5.5

2.5

0.4

0.2

0.5

a Khan

18
1.6

US EPAb (g/L)

2.5
120
52

et al. (2005)

b Concentrations

under the US EPA water quality criteria represent the highest concentration of a material in surface water to which an aquatic
community can be exposed indefinitely without resulting in an unacceptable effect

42

F. Moore et al.

Fig. 4 Concentration of heavy metals in water sampling stations at the Sungun region

data show that sediments have much higher concentrations

of heavy metals than the water column. The difference between heavy metals content in water and sediment is pre-

sumably influenced by the acidity of the water system. Scatter diagrams of concentration of heavy metals in water and
sediment samples are shown in Fig. 6.

Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Stream Water and Sediments Affected by the Sungun

43

Table 2 Elemental concentrations (mg/kg) of sediments, SQG by US EPA

Mean concentration

SQGs

Sungunchay

Ilginechay

Zarnekabchay

Khuinerud

Nonpolluted

Moderately polluted

Heavily polluted

Cu

881.01

525.94

47.73

43.45

<25

2550

>50

Mo

74.17

44.31

2.98

1.55

n.i.

n.i.

n.i.

Pb

110.66

118.79

30.43

39.43

<40

4060

>60

Zn

107.52

125.76

94.10

78.13

<90

90200

>200

Ni

54.61

47.14

54.25

34.63

<20

2050

>50

Table 3 Contamination factor and pollution load index (PLI) of metals

in stream sediments
Contamination factor

Fig. 5 The relationship between metal load (Fe + Mn + Mo + Cu+

Pb + Zn + Ni + V) and pH (Ficklin diagram)

Based on Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQG) of US.EPA

(Table 2), sediments classified as nonpolluted, moderately
and heavily polluted. Hence, as shown in Fig. 7 in the Sungunchay stream, sediments are considered heavily polluted
with Cu, Pb and Ni moderately polluted with Zn. Similarly
Cu and Pb are heavily polluted in Ilginechay sediments
while Zn and Ni in this stream are classified as moderately polluted. Zarnekabchay sediments are heavily polluted
with Ni, moderately polluted with Cu and Zn and nonpolluted with Pb. In Khuinerud stream, sediments are moderately polluted with Cu and nonpolluted with other elements
(Fig. 7).

Pb

PLI

Cu

Mo

Zn

Ni

Sungunchay

8.28

10.6

2.71

0.85

0.96

2.87

Ilginechay

4.94

6.33

2.91

0.99

1.31

2.60

Zarnekabchay

0.45

0.43

0.75

0.74

1.51

0.70

Khuinerud

0.41

0.22

0.97

0.62

0.96

0.55

anthropogenic influences.
CF =

CSample
CBackground

(1)

Here:
CF = contamination factor
CSample = metal concentration in the sample
CBackground = natural background value of that metal
The pollution load index (PLI) is obtained by the following
equation (Angulo 1996; Hsu et al. 2007):

PLI = n CF 1 CF 2 CF 3 CF n
(2)

Heavy Metals Contamination

Here:

The degree of heavy metal contamination in water and sediment samples was calculated by contamination factor (CF)
and Geo-accumulation index (Igeo). Contamination factor
which gives an indication of the level of contamination in
sediments was calculated as the ratio of the metal concentration at a given sampling station to the natural background
values (1) (Adomako et al. 2008; Essien et al. 2009). To assess the relative contributions of natural and anthropogenic
metal inputs to sediments, it is necessary to have some idea
of what natural concentrations are expected to be in sediments from a given region. Thus for the purpose of assessing anthropogenic inputs to sediments in this region, we use
data from sample taken from remotely located areas from

PLI = pollution load index

CF = contamination factor
n = number of metals
When CF > 1 for a particular metal, it means that contamination exist and CF < 1 means no metal enrichment of natural or anthropogenic origin.
The Contamination factor and pollution load index for
Cu, Mo, Pb, Zn and Ni in sediments of Sungun region are
given in Table 3. The results show that CF values for Cu,
Mo and Pb in Sungunchay and Ilginechay streams, Ni in
Ilginechay and Zarnekabchay are high (>1) probably due

44

F. Moore et al.

Fig. 6 Scatter diagrams of heavy metals concentration in water and sediment

to mining activity. However, CF values for other analyzed

heavy metals are low (<1). The pollution load index except for Zarnekabchay and Khuinerud is greater than one.

As shown in Table 3, PLI for stream sediments in Sungun region display the following decreasing order: Sungunchay >
Ilginechay > Zarnekabchay > Khuinerud.

Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Stream Water and Sediments Affected by the Sungun

45

Fig. 7 Metal concentrations in Stream sediments in the Sungun region, straight and dashed horizontal lines represent heavily polluted and
moderately polluted levels, respectively, as per SQG by USEPA

The geo-accumulation index proposed by Mller (1979)

is also used for evaluating of metal accumulation in sediments (Singh et al. 1997; Munendra et al. 2002; Audry et al.
2004) and is defined by the following equation:


CX
(3)
Igeo = log2
1.5BX
where CX is the measured concentration of the metal (x)
and BX is the natural background concentration of metal (x).

Factor 1.5 is used for possible variations in the background

data due to lithogenic effects. This index has seven classes
from uncontaminated to extremely contaminated (Table 4).
According to Table 4, the geo-accumulation index of sediments at Sungun region shows very low values (less than
zero) for most of the elements except for Cu (in Sungunchay
and Ilginechay), Mo, Pb (in Sungunchay and Ilginechay)
and Ni (in Sungunchay) and indicates that sediments of Sun-

46

F. Moore et al.

Table 4 Igeo values for heavy metals in stream sediments of Sungun

region
Sungunchay

Ilginechay

Zarnekabchay

Khuinerud

Cu

5.76(6)

Mo

5.75(6)

2.59(3)

0.74(0)

1.58(0)

3.91(4)

0.85(1)

Pb

1.77(0)

0.03(1)

0.71(1)

1.28(0)

1.01(0)

Zn

1.35(0)

1.08(0)

1.33(0)

1.37(0)

Ni

1.27(0)

1.23(0)

1.04(0)

1.38(0)

a Values

in parentheses are the Igeo Classes

<0, uncontaminated (class0). 01, uncontaminated to moderately

contaminated (class1); 12, moderately contaminated (class2); 23,
moderately to strongly contaminated (class3); 34, strongly contaminated (class4); 45, strongly to extremely strongly contaminated (class5); >5, extremely contaminated (class6)

were noted between Mo and other metals in the water samples (except for Al, r = 0.961), suggesting that Mo contamination might be from a source different from the other metals or that it might have different geochemistry characteristics.
The correlation matrix in sediment samples (Table 6)
show good inter-relationships between CuMoFe, PbCd
Ag, ZnCdAg and PbZn (r > 0.9) suggesting a common
sink for these elements in the sediments. In sediment samples Cu and Mo are associated with Fe, whereas Pb, Zn and
Ni are correlated with Mn, and these correlations suggest
heavy metals association with FeMn hydroxides in sediments.
Factor Analysis
In order to understand the effect of natural and anthropogenic flux, which is responsible for enrichment of the
heavy metals and their movement in water and riverine sediments, factor analysis with varimax rotation, was carried out
to clarify the observed relationship between heavy metals.
The results of FA are given in Table 7, with values greater
than 0.50, considering their significant influence toward the
geochemical processes (Rath et al. 2009).
In waters, the factor analysis generated three significant
factors, which explained 83.33% of the variance in data sets.
Parameters were grouped based on the factor loadings and
the following factors were indicated:

Fig. 8 Box plot of Igeo values for heavy metals in stream sediments
of the Sungun region

gun region streams are uncontaminated to moderately contaminated. Box plots of these elements are shown in Fig. 8.
Inter Element Relationship
Correlation Analysis
Correlation analysis was conducted on heavy metal concentrations in water and sediment to assess possible cocontamination from similar sources among the data set.
Pearson correlation coefficients between pH, Eh, EC, TDS
and heavy metals in surface water are summarized in Table 5. pH displays significant negative correlation with
heavy metals except for Mo, Al and V. Strong positive correlations exist between elemental pairs CuFe, CuMn, Zn
Mn, NiMn, CuZn, CuNi, ZnNi and MoAl (r > 0.8).
The results indicate that these elements had the same input
sources and similar geochemical behavior. No correlations

Factor 1: EC, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn and Ni;

Factor 2: Eh, Fe, Cu and Pb;
Factor 3: Al and Mo.
Based on the results of the factor analysis (Table 7) and also
hydrochemical aspects of the waters, it is concluded that
Factor 3 may denote a serious polluted factor (affected by
anthropogenic factors) and Factor 2 and Factor 1 are considered moderately and low polluted factors (affected by anthropogenic and geogenic factors), respectively.
In sediments, three principal components (PC) or factors
explaining 84.73% of the variance or information contained
in the original data set was retained, which is sufficient to
give a good idea of the data structure. Assessed heavy metals were cited in the two first factors. The first extracted factor that contains 41.83% of the total variance includes Fe, Cu
and Mo. Factor 2 scores of Mn, Pb, Zn and Ni exceed 0.9 beyond other elements. Factor 3 includes Mg and Mn. Based
on the results of Factor analysis and according to contamination of heavy metals in river sediments of Sungun region,
it is concluded that Factor 1 may be called as moderately
to severely polluted factor and Factor 2 as low polluted to
unpolluted factor.

Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Stream Water and Sediments Affected by the Sungun

47

Table 5 Correlation coefficients of elements in water samples

pH

Eh

EC

Al

Fe

Mn

Mo

Cu

Pb

Zn

Ni

pH

Eh

0.978**

EC

0.294

0.244

0.371*

0.411**

0.258

Al

0.119

0.119

0.005

0.204

Fe

0.784**

0.752**

0.414**

0.194

0.027

Mn

0.501**

0.475**

0.561**

0.307*

0.063

0.543**

Mo

0.194

0.186

0.091

0.176

0.961**

0.064

0.06

Cu

0.719**

0.691**

0.334*

0.244

0.014

0.904**

0.964**

0.043

Pb

0.523**

0.559**

0.043

0.337*

0.094

0.654**

0.197

0.003

0.381*

Zn

0.598**

0.565**

0.423**

0.3

0.025

0.694**

0.807**

0.058

0.851**

0.28

Ni

0.616**

0.587**

0.478**

0.341*

0.042

0.740**

0.863**

0.07

0.905**

0.299

0.972**

0.252

0.249

0.215

0.359*

0.048

0.083

0.264

0.026

0.136

0.066

0.19

0.221

0.404**

0.372*

0.970**

0.285

0.047

0.472**

0.606**

0.122

0.372*

0.084

0.482**

0.516**

0.266

Zn

Ni

Cd

Cr

Ag

** Correlation
* Correlation

is significant at the 0.01 level

is significant at the 0.05 level

Table 6 Correlation coefficients of elements in sediment samples

Al

Fe

Mn

Mg

Mo

Cu

Pb

Al

Fe

0.692**

Mn

0.335**

0.332**

Mg

0.437**

0.451**

0.645**

Mo

0.728**

0.966**

0.500**

0.520**

Cu

0.616**

0.953**

0.2

0.470**

0.904**

0.262

0.06

0.320**

Pb

0.098

0.102

0.415**

Zn

0.109

0.077

0.535**

0.168

0.099

0.295

0.975**

Ni

0.078

0.088

0.671

0.049

0.16

0.144

0.201

0.271

Cd

0.064

0.319**

0.365**

0.304**

0.17

0.518**

0.912**

0.925**

0.114

Cr

0.323**

0.487**

0.631**

0.731**

0.548**

0.487**

0.184

0.102

0.159

0.295

Ag

0.046

0.251

0.234

0.405**

0.123

0.439**

0.921**

0.988**

0.181

0.907**

0.316**

0.283

0.281

0.604**

0.612**

0.334**

0.135

0.036

0.116

0.464**

0.045

0.561**

0.06

** Correlation
* Correlation

1
1

is significant at the 0.01 level

is significant at the 0.05 level

Conclusion
This study allowed characterization of the main factors involved in the environmental impact by heavy metals in water and sediments of four streams influenced by mining activity at the Sungun region. Water samples have essentially
both sulfate and bicarbonate characters. The hydrogeochemical composition of the waters at Sungun region is both Ca
SO4 and CaHCO3. Contamination level of streams water in vicinity of Sungun Deposit was low to intermediate

and most of stream waters plot in the near-neutral, low

metal field according the Ficklin diagram. The interpretation of the results presented in the previous section lead to
conclude that both of geogenic and anthropogenic factors
affects the concentration of heavy metals in streams water at the Sungun region but the influence of geogenic processes was higher than the anthropogenic factors (such as
mining activity and concentration processes). From enrichment factor analysis (Geo-accumulation index), river sediments at the study area are enriched in Cu, Mo, Pb and

48
Table 7 Statistical results from
factor analysis

F. Moore et al.
Water

Sediment

Rotated component matrix

Rotated component matrix

Component
1

Component
2

pH

0.334

0.858

Eh

0.283

0.881

EC

0.722

0.061

Al

0.004

0.028

Fe

0.578

0.692

Mn

0.888

Mo

0.023

0.962

0.053

0.084

Mg

0.464

0.082

0.803

0.094

Al

0.771

0.148

0.151

0.988

Mn

0.34

0.614

0.635

0.016

Cu

0.95

0.256

0.033

0.195

0.054

Mo

0.957

0.136

0.163

0.088

0.982

Pb

0.087

0.952

0.108

0.165
0.16

Fe

Cu

0.714

0.6

0.001

Zn

0.051

0.986

0.035

Pb

0.013

0.773

0.135

Ni

0.294

0.367

0.485

Zn

0.842

0.386

0.042

Ni

0.886

0.39

0.044

% of variance

% of variance

F1

F2

F3

F1

F2

F3

34.9

29.99

18.43

41.83

27.85

15.04

Extraction method: Principal Component Analysis

Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization

Ni. The high enrichment value sites of Cu and Mo suggest

that point source input of some specific metal contaminant
may has caused significant sediment contamination in the
local area. Pollution load values of streams decreased in order of Sungunchay, Ilginechay, Zarnekabchay, Khuinerud,
respectively. Effects of tailing dam on water and sediment
resources were low but monitoring studies should be done.
Results obtained from this study clearly indicate that observed elevated values of the heavy metals (Cu, Mo, Pb, Zn
and Ni) in the collected water and sediment samples may
have a detrimental effect on the health of the communities
that use the river water directly without treatment for domestic purposes as well as recreational users. The data presented here suggest that metal contamination, especially by
Cu, Mo, Pb and Ni, is a significant factor in sediments of
Sungun region and justify the need for further studies to ascertain long-term effects of contaminants as well as concentration plants, waste dump and tailing dam on the sediment
chemistry.
The positive correlation of heavy metals with respect to
Mn and Fe in waters indicates Fe and Mn accompany these
elements during their release into the waters or adsorption of
part of these elements on the suspended Fe and Mn oxides
and hydroxide particles.
Acknowledgements This work was supported by National Iranian
Copper Industries Company (NICICO) for which we are grateful. Also
the authors would like to thank the Department of Earth Sciences, Shiraz University for providing the means for this research.

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