Guideline for the determination of heavy metals in sediment.

Abstract

This Technical note provides advice on the analysis of heavy metals in total marine and coastal sediments and sieved fractions, including sampling and sample handling. The analysis of heavy metals in sediments basically includes digestion and detection by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption (GFAAS), flame atomization, ICP-ES or ICP-MS. All steps of the procedure are susceptible to insufficient recovery and contamination. Quality control measures are recommended in order to regularly monitor the performance of the method. These guidelines are intended to encourage and assist analytical chemists to critically review their methods and to improve their procedures and quality assurance measures, if necessary. These guidelines are not intended as complete laboratory manual. If necessary, guidance should be sought from specialized laboratories. Laboratories should demonstrate validity of each methodological step. Moreover, use of an alternative method, carried out concurrently to the routine procedure, is recommended for validation. The analyses should be carried out by experienced staff. Contracting parties should follow the HELCOM monitoring guideline but minor deviations from this are acceptable if the method achieves comparable results. Validation of the adopted method needs to be performed on the relevant matrix and concentration range e.g. by taking part in intercomparison studies or proficiency testing schemes.