Heavy metals content and distribution in the surface sediments of the Guangzhou section of the Pearl River, Southern China
Tóm tắt
The long-term industrialization and urbanization of Guangzhou city may lead to heavy metal contamination of its aquatic sediment. Nevertheless, only few studies have been published on the distribution and contamination assessment of heavy metals in this urban river sediment. Thus, the major objective of this study was to quantitatively assess contamination of heavy metals and their chemical partitioning in the sediments of the Guangzhou section of the Pearl River (GSPR). Surface sediment samples were collected at 10 sites in the main river and 12 sites in the creeks of the GSPR. The total content of Cd was determined by graphite furnace atomic adsorption spectrometry (GF-AAS), and content of Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn was determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The chemical partitioning of these heavy metals in the sediments of the main river was determined by the sequential selective extraction (SSE) method. Results indicated that the average total concentrations of Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu and Zn in the sediments of the main river were 1.44, 63.7, 95.5, 253.6 and 370.0 mg/kg, respectively, whereas they were 2.10, 125.5, 110.1, 433.7 and 401.9 mg/kg in the sediments of the creeks. The sediment at M4 and C9 sites was heavily contaminated with about 8 and 11 of toxic unit, respectively. Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn were mostly bound to organic matter and in the residual phase, whereas Cd was mostly associated with the soluble and exchangeable phase and the residual phase. The mobility and bioavailability of Cd, Zn and Cr in the sediments of the main river were relatively higher than Cu and Pb, due to higher levels in the soluble and exchangeable fraction and the carbonate fraction. The potential acute toxicity in the sediments of the main river and creeks was mainly caused by Cu contamination, accounting for 21.7–37.1% and 16.9–46.3% of the total toxicity, respectively, followed by Zn and Pb. Adverse biological effects induced by heavy metals would be expected in the sediments of the GSPR. Therefore, the sediments of the GSPR, especially at M4 and C9 sites, need to be remediated to maintain aquatic ecosystem health.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Albanese S, Vivo BD, Lima A, Cicchella D (2007) Geochemical background and baseline values of toxic elements in stream sediments of Campania region (Italy). J Geochem Explor 93:21–34
Bao SD (1999) Analysis of agri-chemistry in soil, 3rd edn. Chinese Agricultural Science and Technology Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Birch G, Taylor S (1999) Source of heavy metals in sediments of the Port Jackson estuary, Australia. Sci Total Environ 227:123–138
Buckley DE, Smith JN, Winters GV (1995) Accumulation of contaminant metals in marine sediments of Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia: environmental factors and historical trends. Appl Geochem 10:175–195
Chen JF (1981) Oxides in soil colloids. Chin J Soil Sci 12:44–49 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Chen JS, Wang FY, Li XD, Song JJ (2000) Geographical variations of trace elements in sediments of the major rivers in eastern China. Environ Geol 39:1334–1340
Cheung KC, Poon BHT, Lan CY, Wong MH (2003) Assessment of metal and nutrient concentrations in river water and sediment collected from then cities in the Pearl River Delta, South China. Chemosphere 52:1431–1440
Dekov VM, Komy Z, Araújo F, Van Put A, Van Grieken R (1997) Chemical composition of sediments, suspended matter, river water and ground water of the Nile (Aswan-Sohag traverse). Sci Total Environ 201:195–201
Dzombak DA, Morel EMM (1990) Surface complexation modeling: hydrous ferric oxide. John Wiley & Sons, New York
Fan QY, He J, Xue HX, Lu CW, Sun Y, Shen LL, Liang Y, Bai SL (2008a) Heavy metal pollution in the Baotou section of the Yellow River, China. Chem Spec Bioavailab 20:65–76
Fan YH, Lin CY, He MC, Yang ZF (2008b) Transport and bioavailability of Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni in surface sediments of Daliao River watersystem. Environ Sci 29:3469–3476 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Fang T, Li XD, Zhang G (2005) Acid volatile sulfide and simultaneously extracted metals in the sediment cores of the Pearl River Estuary, South China. Ecotox Environ Safe 61:420–431
García-Sánchez A, Álvarez-Ayuso E (2002) Sorption of Zn, Cd and Cr on calcite. Application to purification of industrial wastewaters. Miner Eng 15:539–547
Goldberg ED, Gamble E, Griffin JJ, Koide M (1977) Pollution history of Narragansett Bay as recorded in its sediments. Estuar Coast Mar Sci 5:549–561
Gorenc S, Kostaschuk R, Chen Z (2004) Spatial variations in heavy metals on tidal flats in the Yangtze Estuary, China. Environ Geol 45:1101–1108
Grosbois CA, Horowitz AJ, Smith JJ, Elrick KA (2001) The effect of mining and related activities on the sediment-trace element geochemistry of Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA. Part III. Downstream effects: the Spokane River Basin. Hydrol Process 15:855–875
Guangzhou Marine and Fishing Bureau (2004) Report of Marine Environmental Quality in Guangzhou in 2003. http://www.gzocean.com (in Chinese)
Hall GEM, Vaive JE, Beer R, Hoashi M (1996) Selective leaches revisited, with emphasis on the amorphous Fe oxyhydroxide phase extraction. J Geochem Explor 56:59–78
Han FX, Banin A (1999) Long-term transformations and redistribution of potentially toxic heavy metals in arid-zone soils II: under field capacity regime. Water Air Soil Poll 114:221–250
Hseu ZY (2006) Extractability and bioavailability of zinc over time in three tropical soils incubated with biosolids. Chemosphere 63:762–771
Ip CCM, Li XD, Zhang G, Farmer JG, Wai OWH, Li YS (2004) Over one hundred years of trace mental fluxes in the sediments of the Pearl River Estuary, South China. Environ Pollut 133:157–172
Ip CCM, Li XD, Zhang G, Farmer JG, Wai OWH, Li YS (2007) Trace metal distribution in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary and the surrounding coastal area, South China. Environ Pollut 147:311–323
Li FB, Wang XG, Zhou SG, Liu CS (2006) Reviews on abiotic transformation of organchlorines on the interface of iron oxides and water in red soil colloids. Ecol Environ 15:1343–1351 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Li FL, Shan XQ, Zhang TH, Zhang SZ (1998) Evaluation of plant availability of rare earth elements in soils by chemical fractionation and multiple regression analysis. Environ Pollut 102:269–277
Li GH, Cao ZM, Lan DZ, Xu J, Wang SS, Yin WH (2007a) Spatial variations in grain size distribution and selected metal contents in the Xiamen Bay, China. Environ Geol 52:1559–1567
Li QS, Wu ZF, Chu B, Zhang N, Cai SS, Fang JH (2007b) Heavy metal in coastal wetland sediments of the Pearl River Estuary, China. Environ Pollut 149:158–164
Li XD, Wai QWH, Li YS, Coles BJ, Ramsey MH, Thornton I (2000) Heavy metal distribution in sediment profiles of the Pearl River estuary, South China. Appl Geochem 15:567–581
Li RW, Li H, Li Y, Zhang SK, Qian Z, Ma ZP, Jiang ZX (2001a) Study of the heavy metals, nitrogen and phosphorus contaminants in the sediments of the Yellow River Delta. Acta Sediment Tol Sin 19:622–629 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Li XD, Shen ZG, Wai QWH, Li YS (2001b) Chemical forms of Pb, Zn and Cu in the sediment profiles of the Pearl River Estuary. Mar Pollut Bull 42:215–223
Li ZH, Liang SH (1995) Modern sedimentary environment and heavy metal content distribution in bottom load in Pearl River estuary. Mar Pollut Bull 14:43–49 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Lin CY, He MC, Zhou YX, Hu LJ, Guo W, Quan XC, Yang ZF (2007) Mercury contamination and dynamics in the sediment of the Second Songhua River, China. Soil Sediment Contam 16:397–411
Lin CY, Negev I, Eshel G, Banin A (2008a) In situ accumulation of copper, chromium nickel, and zinc in soils used for long-term waste water reclamation. J Environ Qual 37:1477–1487
Lin CY, He MC, Li YX, Liu RM, Yang ZF (2008b) Contents, contamination and geochemical characteristics of metals in the sediment from Songhua River. Environ Sci 29:2123–2130 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Liu CB, Xu J, Liu CG, Zhang P, Dai MX (2009) Heavy metals in the surface sediments in Lanzhou Reach of Yellow River, China. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 82:26–30
Liu L, Li FS, Xiong DQ, Song CY (2006) Heavy metal contamination and their distribution in different size fractions of the surficial sediment of Haihe River, China. Environ Geol 50:431–438
MacDonald DD, Ingersoll CG, Berger TA (2000) Development and evaluation of consensus-based sediment quality guidelines for freshwater ecosystems. Arch Environ Con Tox 39:20–31
Martin JM, Meybeck M (1979) Elemental mass-balance of material carried by major world rivers. Mar Chem 7:173–206
Morel FMM, Hering JG (1993) Principle and applications of aquatic chemistry. John Wiley & Sons, New York
National Standard of PR China (1995) Soil environmental quality (GB 15618–1995). Standards Press of China, Beijing (in Chinese)
Norvell WA, Wu J, Hopkins DG, Welch RM (2000) Association of cadmium in durum wheat grain with soil chloride and chelate-extractable soil cadmium. Soil Sci Soc Am J 64:2162–2168
Nriagu JO, Pacyna JM (1988) Quantitative assessment of worldwide contamination of air, water and soils by trace metals. Nature 333:134–139
Ohta A, Imai N, Terashima S, Tachibana Y (2005) Influence of surface geology and mineral deposits on the spatial distributions of elemental concentrations in the stream sediments of Hokkaido, Japan. J Geochem Explor 86:86–103
Pedersen F, Sjøbrnestad E, Andersen HV, Kjølholt J, Poll C (1998) Characterization of sediments from Copenhagen harbor by use of biotests. Water Sci Technol 37:233–240
Ramos L, Gonzalez MJ, Hernandez LM (1999) Sequential extraction of copper, lead, cadmium, and zinc in sediments from Ebro River (Spain): relationship with levels detected in earthworms. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 62:301–308
Singh M, Müller G, Singh IB (2003) Geogenic distribution and baseline concentration of heavy metals in sediments of the Ganges River, India. J Geochem Explor 80:1–17
Song XQ, Lei HY, Yu GW, Bai T, Yu Q, Li Z (2008) Evaluation of heavy metal pollution and release from sediment in a heavily polluted tidal river. Acta Sci Circumst 28:2258–2268 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Tessier A, Campbell PGC, Bisson M (1979) Sequential extraction procedure for the speciation of trace metals. Anal Chem 51:844–851
Ure A, Quevaullier Ph, Muntau H, Griepink B (1993) Speciation of heavy metals in soils and sediments: an account of the improvement and harmonization of extraction techniques undertaken under the auspices of the BCR of the Commission of the European Communities. Int J Environ An Ch 51:135–151
Wang SS, Cao ZM, Lan DZ, Zheng ZC, Li GH (2008) Concentration distribution and assessment of several heavy metals in sediments of west-four Pearl River Estuary. Environ Geol 55:963–975
Wang ZW, Shan XQ, Zhang SZ (2002) Comparison between fractionation and bioavailability of trace elements in rhizosphere and bulk soils. Chemosphere 46:1163–1171
Wei FS, Chen JS, Wu YY, Zheng CJ, Jiang DZ (1990) Background contents of elements in china soils. Publishing House of Chinese Environmental Sciences, Beijing (in Chinese)
Wen XH, Allen HE (1999) Mobilization of heavy metals from Le An River sediment. Sci Total Environ 227:101–108
Williams TP, Bubb JM, Lester JN (1994) Metal accumulation within salt marsh environment: a review. Mar Pollut Bull 28:277–290
Wu YH, Hou XH, Cheng XY, Yao SC, Xia WL, Wang SM (2007) Combining geochemical and statistical methods to distinguish anthropogenic source of metals in lacustrine sediment: a case study in Dongjiu Lake, Taihu Lake catchment, China. Environ Geol 52:1467–1474
Yuan H, Wang CY, Gu SY, Lu J, Zhou HD, Wan XH (2008) Chemical forms and pollution characteristics of heavy metals in Yellow River sediments. Chin J Ecol 27:1966–1971 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Zachara JM, Cowan CE, Resch CT (1991) Sorption of divalent metals on calcite. Geochim Cosmochim Ac 55:1549–1562
Zhang CS, Zhang Z, Zhang LC, Wang LJ (1995) Calculation of heavy metal contents in sediments of the Changjiang River system. Acta Sci Circumst 15:257–264 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Zhang MK (1990) Significance of soil iron oxides forms on classification of red earth and yellow earth in Zhejinag Province. Acta Agric Univ Zhejiangensis 16:42–50 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Zhang SN, Liu W, Wang DL (2008) Heavy metal pollution and their history trend in the surface sediment of Haihe River. Arid Environ Monit 22:129–133 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Zhang WG, Feng H, Chang JN, Qu JG, Xie HG, Yu LZ (2009) Heavy metal contamination in surface sediments of Yangtze River intertidal zone: an assessment from different indexes. Environ Pollut 157:1533–1534
Zhou J, Ma DS, Pan JY, Nie WM, Kai Wu (2008) Application of multivariate statistical approach to identify heavy metal sources in sediment and waters: a case study in Yangzhong, China. Environ Geol 54:373–380
Zhu SQ, Zang XP (2001) On heavy metal pollution along Yangtze River stretches of urban areas in major cities. Yangtze River 32:23–25 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Zou XD, Yuan T, Zhang XD, Feng SP, Shen ZM, Wang WH (2007) Heterogeneous distribution of copper in different grain size and density fractions of contaminated surface sediment from Nansi Lake (China). Environ Geol 51:813–820