Concentration distribution and assessment of several heavy metals in sediments of west-four Pearl River Estuary

• Published in: Environmental earth sciences Vol. 55; no. 5; pp. 963 - 975
• Main Authors: Wang, Shanshan, Cao, Zhimin, Lan, Dongzhao, Zheng, Zhichang, Li, Guihai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01.09.2008; Springer-Verlag; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anthropogenic factors; Brackish; Coastal zone; Copper; Depositional environment; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Enrichment factor (EF); Estuaries; Exact sciences and technology; Freshwater; Geology; Heavy metals; Lead; Lithology; Marine; Marine and continental quaternary; Metal concentrations; Organic matter; Original Article; Particle size; Pollution, environment geology; Rivers; Sediments; Studies; Surficial geology; Surficial sediment; Trace metals; West-four Pearl River Estuary; Zinc; South China Sea; West Pacific; Pearl River; Asia; China; Pacific Ocean; Far East; Depositional environment; Enrichment factor (EF); West-four Pearl River Estuary; Surficial sediment; Heavy metals; stream transport; estuarine sedimentation; estuarine environment; depositional environment; trace metals; differentiation; heavy metals; metals; concentration; hydrodynamics; pollution; human activity; spatial distribution; contamination; drill cores; enrichment; point sources; grain size; Surficial sediment .Heavy metals; organic materials; estuarine sediments; estuaries; Depositional environment .Enrichment factor (EF)
• DOI: 10.1007/s00254-007-1046-6
• ISSN: 0943-0105; 1866-6280

Grain size parameters, trace metals (Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cr, Zn, Ba, Zr and Sr) and total organic matter (TOM) of 38 surficial sediments and a sediment core of west-four Pearl River Estuary region were analyzed. The spacial distribution and the transportation procession of the chemical element in surficial sediments were studied mainly. Multivariate statistics are used to analyses the interrelationship of metal elements, TOM and the grain size parameters. The results demonstrated that terrigenous sediment taken by the rivers are main sources of the trace metal elements and TOM, and the lithology of parent material is a dominating factor controlling the trace metal composition in the surficial sediment. In addition, the hydrodynamic condition and landform are the dominating factors controlling the large-scale distribution, while the anthropogenic input in the coastal area alters the regional distribution of heavy metal elements Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cr and Zn. The enrichment factor (EF) analysis was used for the differentiation of the metal source between anthropogenic and naturally occurring, and for the assessment of the anthropogenic influence, the deeper layer content of heavy metals were calculated as the background values and Zr was chosen as the reference element for Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cr and Zn. The result indicate prevalent enrichment of Co, Cu, Ni, Pb and Cr, and the contamination of Pb is most obvious, further more, the peculiar high EF value sites of Zn and Pb probably suggest point source input.