Monitoring of selected trace elements in sediments of heavily industrialized areas in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES)

Located in Southwest Louisiana Calcasieu Parish is the home of several recent multibillion-dollar industrial projects creating a need for environmental monitoring projects. The monitoring of certain metals in the environment is important due to the toxic nature of these elements and the region's history of Superfund sites. Sediment samples were collected from seven locations around Calcasieu parish, and the concentrations of Al, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were determined by ICP-OES. The locations were selected due to their proximity to industrialized locations. None of the sampled sediments exceeded the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality regulations. All sampled locations had higher concentrations when compared to a non-industrialized location from the area. These differences may have been caused by anthropogenic factors.