IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i18p10237-d634941.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Characteristics of Heavy Metals in Seawater and Sediments from Daya Bay (South China): Environmental Fates, Source Apportionment and Ecological Risks

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Tao

    (South China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, China)

  • Haidong Li

    (Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle, Ministry of Education, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China)

  • Xiaojuan Peng

    (South China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, China)

  • Wanping Zhang

    (Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle, Ministry of Education, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China)

  • Quansheng Lou

    (South China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, China)

  • Jian Gong

    (Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Jianjun Ye

    (South China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, China)

Abstract

In this study, the spatiotemporal distributions, potential sources, and ecological risks of Hg, Cr, and As in seawater, and Hg, As, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cu in sediments from Daya Bay were investigated. The five-year average concentrations of Hg, Cr, and As in seawater were 0.020 μg/L, 0.79 μg/L, and 2.08 μg/L, respectively. The five-year average concentrations of Hg, As, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cu in surface sediments were 0.04 mg/kg, 7.34 mg/kg, 63.81 mg/kg, 0.23 mg/kg, 25.60 mg/kg, and 11.78 mg/kg, respectively. Annual variations in Hg, Cr, and As in seawater exhibited different trends. HMs in sediments, such as As, Zn, Pb, and Cu, exhibited similar annual variations, whereas Hg and Cd exhibited different annual variations. The spatial distribution of metal species in seawater and sediments showed significant variability, and the concentrations decreased gradually from the coast to the open sea. The comprehensive potential ecological hazard index ( RI ) of HMs in sediments indicated a relatively high risk, especially for Hg and Cd contamination. The geoaccumulation indices ( I geo ) of As, Zn, Pb, and Cu suggested that these metals did not pollute Daya Bay, whereas those of Cd and Hg indicated mild and moderate pollution. The environmental fates of HMs were discussed based on Pearson correlation analysis, revealing that concentrations of HMs were greatly affected by parameters, such as pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), and total organic carbon (TOC). Principal component and factor analyses indicated that Hg, Cr, As, and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in water originated from similar sources, including domestic sewage and wastewater from fishing ports, runoffs, and outlets. For sediments, it was proposed that Cu, Zn, As, Pb, and TOC exhibited similar sources, including cage culture and waste discharge from outlets. Meanwhile, Hg and Cd originated from other point sources, such as a harbor. The study suggests that sustainable management and economic development be integrated to control pollutant emissions in Daya Bay.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Tao & Haidong Li & Xiaojuan Peng & Wanping Zhang & Quansheng Lou & Jian Gong & Jianjun Ye, 2021. "Characteristics of Heavy Metals in Seawater and Sediments from Daya Bay (South China): Environmental Fates, Source Apportionment and Ecological Risks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10237-:d:634941
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10237/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10237/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jie Yang & Linglong Cao & Jianhua Wang & Chunlian Liu & Chuguang Huang & Weixu Cai & Hongda Fang & Xiaojuan Peng, 2014. "Speciation of Metals and Assessment of Contamination in Surface Sediments from Daya Bay, South China Sea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-18, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asma Shaheen & Javed Iqbal, 2018. "Spatial Distribution and Mobility Assessment of Carcinogenic Heavy Metals in Soil Profiles Using Geostatistics and Random Forest, Boruta Algorithm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Linglong Cao & Haitiao Tian & Jie Yang & Ping Shi & Quansheng Lou & Lali Waxi & Zhixin Ni & Xiaojuan Peng, 2015. "Multivariate Analyses and Evaluation of Heavy Metals by Chemometric BCR Sequential Extraction Method in Surface Sediments from Lingdingyang Bay, South China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-14, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10237-:d:634941. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.