SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SELECTED ELEMETNS IN STREAM SEDIMENTS OF KOSOVA BASIN

Geochemical sampling methods are methods which involve collecting and analyzing various types of geological materials (such as soils, stream sediments and rocks) or certain biological materials (such as plants). Stream sediment geochemistry can be used to quantify natural geochemical baselines and anthropogenic effects. For stream sediment, pan concentrate, and in some cases soil samples, the procedure is often to plot all the values on a map, determine an arbitrary or statistical threshold and highlight the anomalous values. Kosovo Basin is the largest basin in Kosovo covering an area of 1400 km2. The soils in this basin are used mainly for agriculture. Surficial geochemical data are important for solving problems in mineral resources, geology, agriculture, forestry, waste disposal, and environmental health. This study examined the spatial distribution of the following metals in stream sediments: arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) are included because of their influence on availability of heavy metals to stream water or their potential use in interpreting the distribution of heavy metals. Most metal concentrations can be spatially related to the regional geology, structural trends, or the local effects of individual rock units. For each selected elements was created a set of maps (combination of post map, contour map, 3D wire frame map and 3D surface map). Results obtained using these techniques show some anomalies for selected elements in various parts of study area.