Water/Sediment Quality Assessment and SOD Studies in Kizilirmak River at the Black Sea Coast of Turkey

Abstract

The high biological productivity in nutrient-enriched water means that the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and sediment oxygen demand (SOD) in the water column are high as dead material is broken down. The objective of this research included testing sediment oxygen demand parameter measurements by laboratory techniques, determining spatial distribution of sediment characteristics, and evaluating the relationship between SOD and depositional environment in the Kizilirmak River at the Black Sea coast of Turkey. SOD rates were dependent on the method; therefore, care should be taken in comparing SOD data obtained by different methods. There is a need for a carefully researched standardized method for SOD determinations. In this study, SOD is investigated in laboratory experiments in which sediments are subjected to controlled conditions of two different techniques. According to both results of SOD measurement methods, mean SOD values were changing in the range of 0.25 - 0.61 g O<inf>2</inf> / m 2 / day ; indicating that the river bed had a high sand and water content (average 25.46% of wet weight) whereas low organic matter content (average 3.85% of dry weight) characteristics. Analyses of eight stations produced results that showed statistically significant differences between the two methods (F (2.18)=16.610 P<0.01) when tested during the same time period, under the same conditions. In this study the measured field and laboratory data will be useful in understanding the sediment/water quality of the water body and also provide parameters that may be used when developing numerical water quality models for the Kizilirmak River. © by PSP 2007.