TY - THES

T1 - Geochemical investigations in the Mur River catchment (Styria)

AU - Oksakowski, Tanja Verena

N1 - no embargo

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - The Mur River has a length of 453 km and a total catchment area of 13,824 km². 290 km of the river flow through Styria. In this province, the Mur has a watershed of about 9400 km². Along the 290 km, which lie in the MUR planning area within the jurisdiction of Styria, a total of 424 monitoring points publicly available via the H2O database of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism were evaluated. 33 of these monitoring sites collect heavy metal data measured in the flowing wave (F-parameters) or in the sediment (S-parameters). Furthermore, data sets of the Austrian stream sediment survey were examined and used for evaluation. In addition, data from ten sediment samples around Leoben were evaluated. The stream sediment survey database reflects the geogenic background. It was also found that high values in the stream sediment layer are not always reflected in the data of the H2O database and vice versa. At the sites with elevated values in the H2O database without elevated values in the stream sediment layer, anthropogenic influence is expected. An example is given by a monitoring site at the Vordernbergerbach. It shows high heavy metal values in both the water and sediment samples not mapped in the Austrian stream sediment survey. This suggests a connection with nearby industry. In a corresponding sample point in Leoben, the above-average measurement results of this measuring point is only detected for a few elements. It was observed that elevated readings in a sediment sample at one monitoring site are not related to elevated readings in the water sample. Furthermore, flow and heavy metal concentration in the water sample are uncorrelated.

AB - The Mur River has a length of 453 km and a total catchment area of 13,824 km². 290 km of the river flow through Styria. In this province, the Mur has a watershed of about 9400 km². Along the 290 km, which lie in the MUR planning area within the jurisdiction of Styria, a total of 424 monitoring points publicly available via the H2O database of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism were evaluated. 33 of these monitoring sites collect heavy metal data measured in the flowing wave (F-parameters) or in the sediment (S-parameters). Furthermore, data sets of the Austrian stream sediment survey were examined and used for evaluation. In addition, data from ten sediment samples around Leoben were evaluated. The stream sediment survey database reflects the geogenic background. It was also found that high values in the stream sediment layer are not always reflected in the data of the H2O database and vice versa. At the sites with elevated values in the H2O database without elevated values in the stream sediment layer, anthropogenic influence is expected. An example is given by a monitoring site at the Vordernbergerbach. It shows high heavy metal values in both the water and sediment samples not mapped in the Austrian stream sediment survey. This suggests a connection with nearby industry. In a corresponding sample point in Leoben, the above-average measurement results of this measuring point is only detected for a few elements. It was observed that elevated readings in a sediment sample at one monitoring site are not related to elevated readings in the water sample. Furthermore, flow and heavy metal concentration in the water sample are uncorrelated.

KW - Mur

KW - Styria

KW - stream sediments

KW - geochemistry

KW - Mur

KW - Steiermark

KW - Geochemie

KW - Flussedimente

M3 - Master's Thesis

ER -