Heavy metal pollution in the Baotou section of the Yellow River, China

Abstract

Baotou City is a representative heavy industrial city in the drainage basin of the Yellow River. This paper studies the pollution of a contaminated section (Baotou section) of the Yellow River, China, with a known anthropogenic heavy metal input from the industrial discharge. The distribution of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd) in the overlying water, filtered water (overlying water filtered through a 0.45-mm filter membrane) and sediments was determined in the Baotou section of the Yellow River. The results of this research indicate that heavy metal pollutants transport mostly through the carriers of suspended particulates and sediments in the fluvial environment. Baotou City's industrial discharge draining into the Yellow River from the tributaries (the Kundulun River and the Sidaosha River) increases the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd in the mainstream and influences heavy metals speciation. Speciation analyses show that the Cd is easily enriched in the secondary phase (bioavailable form), followed by Pb. Furthermore, based on the acute water quality criteria (WQC-Acute) and chronic water quality criteria (WQC-Chronic) set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the acute sediment quality criteria (SQC-Acute) and the chronic sediment quality criteria (SQC-Chronic) are calculated respectively using the developed equilibrium partitioning approach (EqP). By comparing heavy metal contents in sediments with SQC-Acute and SQC-Chronic respectively, we note that Pb and Cd have posed a high risk to the quality of water environment and to the aquatic ecosystem health of Baotou section of the Yellow River.

Black carbon and other light‐absorbing impurities in snow across Northern China

“…Site 4 (Figure 2a) is only 30 km from Baotou, the largest industrial city in the central part of Inner Mongolia. Especially during the winter, air pollution near Baotou is mainly composed of BC and OC caused by BB and coal burning [Fan et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2009;Gu et al, 2010;Zhao et al, 2012]. The filters from this site were gray, which is consistent with particle absorption being dominated by BC from FF combustion.…”

Probabilistic risk assessment and spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements in groundwater sources in Southwestern Nigeria

“…Second, accuracy of HM concentration assessment was achieved by taking into consideration, several precautionary measures associated with sample extraction, transportation and storage, quality assurance and control steps reported in earlier sections, and the use of standardized equipment in the laboratory. Third, the input and output parameters were quantified mathematically using probabilistic distributions which signifies an array of risks experienced by several members of the population group 101 . The MCS technique offers a holistic quantitative approach of evaluating the probabilistic distribution within the boundaries of the estimation model for health risk assessment and exposure 102 .…”

Determination of heavy metals in lower Sakarya river sediments using a BCR-sequential extraction procedure

“…Speciation and determination studies of trace metals have been widely carried out in sediments (Batley 1989;Fan et al 2008;Davutoglu et al 2008;Mendil et al 2010;Oyeyiola et al 2011). Earlier methods have involved a single extraction (Gumgum and Ozturk 2001;Tuzen 2003;Akcay et al 2003;Pérez and Valiente 2005) despite their fast and relatively simple design.…”