Connectivity of Geochemical Composition of Sediments and Soils in the Large Urban River Catchment

Abstract

This article aimed to identify sources and transport pathways of macro- and microelements in large urbanized rivers under significant anthropogenic pressure. To achieve the objective of this study, the geochemical characteristics of the sediments of the Sava and Danube Rivers and the soils flooded by the Kolubara River were determined. The high content of Mg indicates the dominant origin of the material from loess deposits. The significantly higher contents of Cr and Ni in sediment and soil samples from the Obrenovački Zabran (OZ) than in the samples from the Veliko Ratno Ostrvo (VRO) are the result of increased anthropogenic pressure. Sediments from the VRO show increased Sn and Sb contents. The increase in the content of chalcophile elements is the highest in the sediments from the OZ and ranges from 1.8 to 2.7 times, compared to their concentrations in the Earth’s crust. The soils from OZ and the sediments from the VRO show a decrease in the content of chalcophile elements compared to the sediments from the OZ so the increase is 1.2–1.5, and 0.9–2.3 times, respectively compared to the Earth’s crust. The obtained results revealed that the yield of sedimentary material that has higher concentrations of microelements decreases already at a distance of several km.