Assessing sediment pollution from the Julian Adame-Alatorre dam by instrumental neutron activation analysis

The rapid industrial development in regions of Mexico during recent years has had the side effect of introducing toxic metals, fertilizers, and pesticides into the ecosystem. Sediment cores were collected from eight locations around the Julian Adame-Alatorre dam located in the Municipality of Villanueva in the State of Zacatecas, México. The cores were analyzed for 32 major, trace, and rare earth elements (As, La, Lu, Nd, Sm, U, Yb, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sr, Ta, Tb, Th, Zn, Zr, Al, Ba, Ca, Dy, K, Mn, Na, Ti, and V) in order to estimate the health risk. The samples were analyzed by instrument neutron activation analysis (INAA) using thermal neutron fluxes of 8 × 1013 and 5 × 1013 n cm−2 s−1 for short and long irradiations, respectively. The results of the contamination levels for elements such as As, Ba, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ta, V, and Zn were compared with the Mexican regulations and the guidelines of USEPA. Enrichment factors for quantified elements identified high As, Sb, Hf, and Cs contents using Fe as a crustal reference.