investigation of heavy metal concentrations in sediment, fish and common reed in sattarkhan dam, azarbayjan-sharghi, iran

increasing industrial activities lead to entrance of different pollutants into the environment, especially water resources. because of their persistency and non-biodegradation, metals can pose a threat to health of human and other organisms. sediment, fish (lucioperca stizostedion and cyprinus carpio), and common reed (phragmites australis) samples were collected from sattarkhan dam for investigating their heavy metal concentrations. dry and ashed sediment, fish, and common reed samples were digested using concentrated nitric acid and their heavy metals (as, cu and cd) concentrations were measured using an icp-oes instrument. one-way anova test was used to examine the difference among accumulation of various metals in plant, sediment and fish. results showed that there were significant differences between metal concentrations in samples (p