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Abstract Three surveys were conducted in the Yellow River estuary and its adjacent waters in June and July October 2013 for collecting the information on the 14 environmental variables including salinity, nutrients, COD and heavy metals. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used for analyzing the collected data and the potential driving variables influencing the water quality were evaluated. Four principal components were extracted from the 14 environmental variables, which explained 67.31% of the total variance in the original data set. Principal component analysis demonstrated that DIN, salinity, SiO32--Si and As were the dominating factors influencing the water quality in the Yellow River estuary and its adjacent waters. The PCA analysis indicated that pollution was more serious in the Yellow River estuary than in its adjacent waters, and the pollution in the southern area was more serious than that in the northern area. The most serious pollution occurred in October, followed by July and June. The Yellow River runoff was the main source of the estuary pollution. Management measures should be taken to protect environments along the Yellow River in order to improve the water quality in the Yellow River estuary and its adjacent waters.
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Received: 07 February 2015
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