Distribution and risk assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments of coastal mudflats on Leizhou Peninsula, China
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Abstract: Mudflats play a vital role in maintaining the dynamic balance between sea and land. To understand the characteristics, sources, and pollution risks of six heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, and Pb) in the coastal mudflats on the Leizhou Peninsula, 257 surface sediment samples were studied using mathematical statistics, correlation analysis, and factor analysis. The results show that the overall concentrations of these heavy metals are low although there are several high abnormal points in the local areas. The strong correlation between these heavy metals indicates that the sources of some of the metals are similar, yet their elemental combinations in different cities (counties) varied. According to the calculated enrichment factor (EF), anthropogenic activity-induced heavy metals were determined in order of decreasing influence: As, Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu, and Hg. The low EF values of Hg indicate that it does not present as a contaminant in the study area, while low values of Cr and Cu from the Lianjiang City suggest that these two metals were also attributed to natural sources. The presence of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb from the remaining cities (counties) should be influenced by anthropogenic activities. The overall potential ecological risk index indicates that the ecological risks posed by the six analyzed heavy metals to the Leizhou Peninsula mudflats, in order of decreasing risk, are Cd, As, Hg, Pb, Cu, and Cr. It is noteworthy that only Cd in Lianjiang City demonstrated substantial ecological risk. Other examined heavy metals in other cities of the study area showed slight ecological risk.
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Key words:
- mudflat /
- heavy metal /
- ecological risk assessment /
- source identification /
- Leizhou Peninsula
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Table 1. Grading criteria proposed by Hakanson (1980)
Er RI Grading criteria Ecological risk level Grading criteria Ecological risk level Er<40 low RI<150 low 40≤Er<80 moderate 150≤RI<300 moderate 80≤Er<160 high 300≤RI<600 high 160≤Er<320 very high RI≥600 very high Er≥320 extremely high Note: Er: ecological risk; RI is the combined potential ecological pollution index. Table 2. Characteristics of heavy metal element concentrations of surface sediments in the coastal mudflat area of Leizhou Peninsula
Area Parameter As/(μg·g−1) Cd/(μg·g−1) Cr/(μg·g−1) Cu/(μg·g−1) Hg/(ng·g−1) Pb/(μg·g−1) All region mean value 5.34 0.055 57.40 14.39 0.021 14.92 range 0.48−21.90 0.004−1.22 0.76−309.00 0.13−102.00 0.002−0.130 2.80−69.50 Suixi County mean value 3.72 0.06 17.07 5.45 0.020 14.71 range 0.78−6.05 0.02−0.30 0.85−62.70 0.83−26.00 0.002−0.029 2.80−69.50 Leizhou City mean value 4.93 0.04 65.56 15.52 0.020 12.01 range 0.67−14.00 0.004−0.16 0.88−309.00 0.13−85.20 0.003−0.099 2.80−42.50 Xuwen County mean value 5.25 0.05 77.09 19.53 0.020 13.13 range 0.48−18.90 0.02−0.09 4.70−298.00 1.15−102.00 0.002−0.110 4.50−30.10 Zhanjiang City mean value 5.92 0.04 35.36 8.82 0.020 18.07 range 0.71−21.90 0.02−0.15 0.76−170.00 0.78−52.20 0.002−0.130 4.40−56.90 Lianjiang City mean value 8.33 0.29 37.14 11.40 0.040 31.01 range 1.52−19.10 0.04−1.22 4.18−76.30 3.55−19.80 0.010−0.076 8.60−61.30 Wuchuan City mean value 2.96 0.03 9.30 2.95 0.004 13.98 range 0.81−4.94 0.02−0.04 5.06−14.70 1.87−4.30 0.003−0.006 7.20−20.10 East China coastal mudflats (Zhang et al., 2017) mean value 8.11 0.09 70.03 18.90 0.030 23.05 range 1.10−27.20 0.02−1.43 4.20−230.00 2.90−370.00 0.010−0.580 0.50−85.80 Marine sediment standards I-II-III (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, 2004) limited value 20−65−93 0.5−1.5−5.0 80−150−270 35−100−200 0.2−0.5−1.0 60−130−250 Table 3. Loadings of heavy metal factors in Leizhou Peninsula coastal mudflat surface sediments
Leizhou City Lianjiang City Suixi County Wuchuan City Xuwen County Zhanjiang City F1 F2 F1 F1 F1 F2 F1 F2 F1 As 0.680 0.612 0.938 0.987 0.935 0.071 0.571 0.708 0.861 Cd 0.870 −0.026 0.815 0.969 0.686 0.633 0.859 0 0.805 Cr 0.899 −0.279 0.952 0.994 0.954 0.183 0.909 −0.159 0.923 Cu 0.888 −0.348 0.977 0.992 0.910 0.033 0.858 −0.405 0.922 Hg 0.847 −0.265 0.983 0.997 −0.083 0.900 0.822 −0.297 0.857 Pb 0.728 0.538 0.980 0.993 0.657 0.677 0.627 0.529 0.915 Eigenvalue 4.046 0.934 5.331 5.865 4.022 1.209 3.679 1.059 4.663 Eigenvalue percentage/% 67.729 15.566 88.849 97.745 67.039 20.154 61.617 17.650 77.720 Table 4. Correlation coefficients of heavy metals in surface sediments in Leizhou Peninsula coastal mudflats
As Cd Cr Cu Hg Pb Leizhou City As 1 −0.136 0.492** 0.427** 0.383** −0.010 Cd 1 −0.245* −0.152 0.700** 0.014 Cr 1 0.905** 0.762** −0.078 Cu 1 0.752** −0.156 Hg 1 −0.167 Pb 1 Lianjiang City As 1 −0.310 0.946** 0.902** 0.896** 0.454* Cd 1 −0.366 −0.386 0.818** −0.003 Cr 1 0.962** 0.910** 0.441* Cu 1 0.944** 0.425 Hg 1 0.984** Pb 1 Suixi County As 1 −0.146 0.958** 0.906** 0.980** 0.551** Cd 1 −0.224 −0.147 0.950** 0.186 Cr 1 0.946** 0.996** 0.579** Cu 1 0.995** 0.525** Hg 1 0.991** Pb 1 Wuchuan City As 1 −0.440 0.856** 0.846** 0.066 0.552* Cd 1 −0.704** −0.483 0.369 −0.651** Cr 1 0.869** 0.110 0.748** Cu 1 0.064 0.575* Hg 1 0.427 Pb 1 Xuwen County As 1 0.523** 0.433** 0.234* 0.217* 0.510** Cd 1 −0.052 −0.044 0.221* 0.409** Cr 1 0.890** −0.114 0.466** Cu 1 −0.101 0.312** Hg 1 0.435** Pb 1 Zhanjiang City As 1 0.584** 0.709** 0.729** 0.638** 0.886** Cd 1 −0.075 −0.082 0.593** 0.667** Cr 1 0.918** −0.172 0.819** Cu 1 −0.183 0.748** Hg 1 0.706** Pb 1 Note: ** indicates a significant correlation at the 0.01 level; * indicates a significant correlation at the 0.05 level. Table 5. Enrichment factor in surface sediments in Leizhou Peninsula coastal mudflats
As Cd Cr Cu Hg Pb Leizhou City 4.53 2.52 2.65 2.06 0.70 2.34 Lianjiang City 1.90 3.44 0.66 0.78 0.51 1.59 Suixi County 4.43 4.11 1.38 1.49 0.75 3.30 Wuchuan City 4.25 2.00 1.03 1.19 0.25 3.52 Xuwen County 4.83 1.95 2.96 2.27 0.65 2.30 Zhanjiang City 4.95 2.78 1.59 1.53 0.64 3.17 Table 6. Eri and RI of heavy metals in the surface sediments of Leizhou Peninsula mudflats
Eri RI Grade As Cd Cr Cu Hg Pb Leizhou City 14.60 22.44 3.22 6.47 12.29 3.73 62.76 low Lianjiang City 24.64 145.02 1.82 4.75 24.40 9.63 210.26 moderate Suixi County 11.02 30.36 0.84 2.27 10.40 4.57 59.45 low Wuchuan City 8.75 14.54 0.46 1.23 2.27 4.34 31.58 low Xuwen County 15.52 25.06 3.79 8.14 13.84 4.08 70.43 low Zhanjiang City 17.52 21.09 1.74 3.68 13.51 5.61 63.14 low Average 15.34 43.09 1.98 4.42 12.79 5.33 − − Note: − represents no data. -
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