Impact of industrial effluents on geochemical association of metals within intertidal sediments of a creek

•Metal speciation study on sediments of industrially impacted creek.•Increase in bioavailable metal fractions from bottom to surface of cores.•Compared with other estuary and creek of the region, speciation highly modified.

Metal speciation studies were carried out on three intertidal core sediments of the industrially impacted Dudh creek located along west coast of India. Metals indicated a drastic increase in the bioavailable fraction towards the surface of the cores, suggesting an increase in anthropogenic metal input in recent years as compared to the past. Also, when compared with Vaitarna estuary and Khonda creek of Thane district, the speciation of metals in Dudh creek sediments was observed to have been highly modified in recent years. High concentrations of metals associated with bioavailable fractions therefore suggested a risk of toxicity to sediment associated biota of Dudh creek.