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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Deployment and Retrieval of Mineral Samplers
Published on: January 20, 2026
Evaluating mining-related metal inputs in reservoir sediments using chemometrics and Monte Carlo simulation: A
Mehmet Metin Yazman1, Bayram Yüksel2, Fikret Ustaoğlu1
1Giresun University, Department of Biology, Gure Campus, Giresun, 28200, Türkiye.
None:
Following the 2021 upstream mining-related leakage event, concerns arose regarding possible downstream sediment contamination in Çamlıgöze Dam Lake, northeastern Türkiye. This study examined whether current surface sediments show coherent downstream geochemical evidence consistent with mining-related inputs and whether sediment-bound PTEs posed ecological or health concerns. Surface sediments from eight stations were collected across four seasons in 2024 and analyzed by ICP-MS after microwave digestion. Sediment quality was assessed using contamination and ecological risk indices (CF, EF, Igeo, mHQ, PLI, mCd, NPI, MPI, RI, NRI, TRI, and PEC-Q), while source identification was performed using multivariate and receptor modeling approaches (PCA, PCC, HCA, and APCS-MLR). Metal concentrations (mg/kg) decreased in the order of Al (33428) > Fe (32353) > Mn (644.6) > Zn (39.29) > Cr (28.1) > Cu (23.10) > Ni (19.6) > Co (14.7) > Pb (10.10) > As (5.53) > Cd (0.11), with no significant seasonal variation (p > 0.05). The applied indices consistently indicated low contamination and limited ecological risk. PCA explained 85.19% of the total variance. APCS-MLR indicated dominant lithogenic contributions for Fe, Co, and Al, while Pb, As, and Cr reflected weak localized anthropogenic or legacy overprinting. Cd showed a PC3 contribution of 33.90%, but this was interpreted cautiously due to its high unexplained fraction. Deterministic risk assessment yielded THI values of 9.58 × 10-2 for adults and 8.81 × 10-1 for children, while Cr showed the highest TCR (9.82 × 10-6). Monte Carlo simulation confirmed acceptable non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks even under upper-bound exposure scenarios. Overall, ÇGD surface sediments showed no widespread present-day mining-related deterioration. However, due to limited sampling and missing upstream, river, baseline, core, spill-proximal, and speciation data, the results remain a current lake-scale assessment and cannot reconstruct or exclude the 2021 event signal.
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