Heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments of Luan River estuary: distributions, sources and ecological risk assessments
DUAN Xiao-yong1,2, YIN Ping1,2, LIU Jin-qing1,2,3, ZHANG Dao-lai1,2, CAO Ke1,2, GAO Fei1,2, CHEN Xiao-ying1,2
1. Key Laboratory of Marine Hydrocarbon Resources and Environmental Geology, Ministry of Land and Resources, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, Qingdao 266071, China;
2. Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resources, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China;
3. College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
In recent decades, the Luan River Basin has been changed significantly by human activities. The runoff and sediment load decreased sharply. The influences of Luan River on the coastal marine environment also changed. Therefore, this study focused on the relationships between estuary environment status and Luan River discharge in recent years. In this study, 33surface sediment samples were collected from Luan River Estuary. Grain size and concentrations of total organic carbon(TOC), heavy metals(Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni, As and Hg) and PAHs(16US EPA priority PAHs) were analyzed. The mean concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cd, As and Hg were 18.76, 30.98, 44.63, 41.14, 15.60, 0.09, 7.21 and 0.02μg/g, respectively. High concentrations were observed in the samples with fine particles that were collected from the estuary and south part. The concentrations of heavy metals were highly correlated to each other. Human discharges and natural sources contributed 64.2% and 35.8% of heavy metals in this region, respectively. Distinctly different distribution patterns were presented by PAHs and heavy metals. PAHs species were dominated by 4rings compounds. There was no correlation between PAHs concentration and TOC, grain size or heavy metal contents. Luan River played a much smaller role on the inputs of PAHs than heavy metals in this region. 40.3%, 46.7% and 12.0% of PAHs in this region originated from pollution of oil and oil-products, combustion of fossil fuel and biomass and exhaust of vehicles and ships.
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