an investigation of self-purification of heavy metals during mixing of river water with sea water

estuaries are considered as highly dynamic ecosystem that include the mixing or transition zone between river freshwater and saline water from oceans and seas. estuaries are very important aquatic systems by preserving the coastal biota. flocculation of metals during mixing of freshwater with saline water can be considered as the most important estuarine processes. due to flocculation process, considerable amount of dissolved metals come into particulate phase that is enriched in nutrients for aquatic life. flocculation process can remarkably reduce the amount of pollution load that reaches to the sea. the present study deals with flocculation process of dissolved cu, mn, ni, zn and pb during the mixing of the talar river water with the caspian sea water. based on the obtained result, zn, mn, pb and cu show maximum flocculation respectively and ni shows the lowest flocculation among the studied elements.