The aim of our study was the examination of vegetation and soil samples of heavy metal contaminated sediment in a post-settled industrial sewage pond-system in Hungary. Due to the disturbance the heavy metal polluted areas have diverse vegetation, and these plants can tolerate higher concentration of heavy metals and they are able to take up them. The accumulated heavy metals could enter the food-chain easily by the process of biomagnification, but these accumulator plants can be applied for phytoremediation. Our paper presents the results of vegetation analysis and heavy metal content of sediment during the period 2003-2005 and the results of ecotoxicological study in 2008. The Sinapis alba seed germination and root elongation test which is a simple, economic, quick and efficient test was used to determine the toxic effect of sediment samples. The samples were collected from the units of former secondary Cr contaminated sedimentation pond system of a Hungarian leather factory near the town of Kunszentmárton. The data were compared with on each other in the different periods. The Cr concentration in the sediment samples was between 21-15,000 mg kg-1. Based on our studies, it can be stated, that this area has diverse vegetation, high heavy metal content and low toxicity. The heavy metal uptakes by plants depend on the factors of the environment.
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