Geochemical signature and properties of sediment sources and alluvial sediments within the Lago Paranoá catchment, Brasilia DF: A study on anthropogenic introduced chemical elements in an urban river basin

One of the largest urban agglomerations in Brazil is the capital Brasilia and its surrounding area. Due to fast urban sprawl and accelerated land use changes, available water supplies are near their limits. The water supply depends largely on surface water collected in reservoirs. There are increasing concerns regarding water shortages due to sediment aggradations, and of water quality due to geochemical modification of sediments from human activities. The concentration of 18 chemical elements and five sediment properties was analyzed from different potential land-based sediment sources and deposited alluvial sediment within the Lago Paranoà catchment. The goal of this study was to assess the distribution of chemical elements and geochemical/physical properties of potential sediment sources in the Lago Paranoá catchment. Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to investigate the influence of different land use types on the geochemistry of sediments. Geochemical fingerprints of anthropogenic activities were developed based on the results of the cluster analysis grouping. The anthropogenic input of land use specific geochemical elements was examined and quantified by the calculation of enrichment factors using the local geological background as reference. Through comparison of the geochemical signature of potential sediment sources and alluvial sediments of the Lago Paranoá and sub-catchments, the relative contribution of land use specific sediment sources to the sediment deposition of the main water reservoir were estimated. The existing findings suggest a strong relationship between land use and quantifiable features of sediment geochemistry and indicate that urban land use had the greatest responsibility for recent silting in the Lago Paranoá. This assessment helps to characterize the role of human activities in mixed-used watersheds on sediment properties, and provides essential information to guide management responses towards more effective source-reduction strategies.