Land-based activities bring increasing pressures on the environment, including the degradation of habitats and a heightened risk for the inhabiting organisms and human population. Industrial production and agriculture combined with population growth and consequent urbanization are the main causes of aquatic ecosystem pollution (EEA, 1999; Gómez-Gutiérrez et al., 2007; Li et al., 2010). Rivers serve as conveyors for pollution, and sediments in particular play an important role in the accumulation and transport of contaminants (Gómez-Gutiérrezet al., 2006; Davutluoglu et al., 2011).