In the present investigation conservative/nonconservative behavior of Cu, Cd, Pb, Co, Fe, Ni, Zn, and Pb in sediments and suspended particulate matter (SPM) of Tadjan river During mixing with Caspian Sea Water has been studied. Results showed that before mixing of the river and sea water SPM carry higher concentrations of Mn, Pb, Fe, Co, Zn and sediment contain higher concentrations of Ni, Cu and Cd. Mixing experiment revealed that from and overall point of view Cu and Fe tend to remove from solution onto SPM and other metals desorbed from SPM to aqueous phase. In sediments also all metal showed desorptive behavior except Fe.
It could be said that in SPM, Co and Cu, to some extent, and Co in sediments show conservative behavior during mixing, of river and sea, water. Concentration of other metals in sediments and SPM showed variations during mixing. Correlation coefficient and cluster analysis revealed that in sediments, concentrations of Cd, Pb, Mn and Cu were under control of pH as well as Mn, Cd and Pb in SPM of the river during mixing. It seems that behaviors of Co, Fe and Ni and Zn in sediments depend on some environmental characteristics of water other than pH, TOC and salinity.
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