Determinación del enriquecimiento de metales pesados en la laguna atillo, parroquia cebadas, cantón guamote de la provincia de chimborazo

Abstract

The lake systems of Ecuador are vulnerable areas before anthropogenic activities, and a great affectation on the water bodies is the contamination of heavy metals in the sediments. This research aimed to determine the enrichment of heavy metals in the Atillo Lagoon of Canto Guamote, Chimborazo Province, for which 21 sampling points were defined, dividing them into three longitudinal transects. The sampling was carried out in May 2022 with the help of a boat and a Van Ven dredge. Approximately 500 grams were collected, which were subjected to analysis of physical-chemical parameters where it was obtained that the pH was neutral, the electrical conductivity reflected that their sediments do not present salinity, the determination of nutrients such as nitrogen, the percentage of organic matter, aluminium maintained a direct relationship due to its origin and to finalize the cation exchange capacity (CEC) the data was exposed using a variability map, so I present that the dispersion of its nutrients maintains a high degree and the determination of heavy metals which was carried out using the 3050B method for acid digestion and the 7000B method for the atomic absorption spectrophotometry of Pb, Cd, Hg and Ni. It is concluded that the Atillo Lagoon does not present contamination from sources other than the natural one, which in this case is the mother rock, for which the geo accumulation index with heavy metals was also used; however, it was observed that at the general level of the studied water, the body does not present contamination in its sediments by heavy metals.