Chemical and Mineralogical Composition of the Mud-Water Interface of the Lake Huleh (Israel) Preserve

There is scant information about the chemical composition of the mud-water interface in shallow, aerobic, eutrophic bodies of water. This study is concerned with the chemical and mineralogical composition of the mud-water interface of the Lake Huleh preserve (Israel). The most important conclusion gleaned from this investigation is that elements preferentially sorbed by the mud from the mud-water interface in shallow, aerobic aquatic systems such as the Huleh preserve do so by two methods: organic matter sorption (cadmium, bromine) and scavenger action of ferric hydroxide (cesium, beryllium, mercury, tin, titanium, zirconium, bismuth, vanadium, molybdenum and iodine) type complexes. Forty-six elements were detected in the mud-water interface; their behavior in this system is described.