How Human Activities Affect Heavy Metal Contamination of Soil and Sediment in a Long-Term Reclaimed Area of the Liaohe River Delta, North China

Yan, Xiaolu; Liu, Miao; Zhong, Jingqiu; Guo, Jinting; Wu, Wen Jie

doi:10.3390/su10020338

Cited by 129 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…The LRD is dominated by freshwater and saltwater reed marshes (376 km 2 ) and functions as an important breeding and stopover area for many endangered waterbirds. Tidal wetlands with saltwater reed marshes and mudflats are conserved in the Shuangtaihekou National Nature Reserve (NNR), which was established in 1986 and listed as a Ramsar site in 2005 (Yan, Liu, Zhong, Guo, & Wu, . The LRD is the traditional agro‐economic zone for rice and aquaculture as well as the third largest oil field in China (the Liaohe Oil Field; Li, Liang, & Shi, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking three decades of land use and land cover transformation trajectories in China's large river deltas

Bai

et al. 2019

Land Degrad Dev

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Large river deltas are characterized by complicated land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics driven by intertwined natural and anthropogenic processes. Understanding spatiotemporal LULC dynamics associated with multiple drivers can help mitigate the adverse ecological impacts resulting from human activities. This research tracked spatiotemporal LULC trajectories in relation to multiple natural and anthropogenic driving processes and explored their correlations within four large river deltas (the Liaohe River Delta [LRD], Yellow River Delta [YRD], Yangtze River Delta [YtRD], and Pearl River Delta [PRD]) in China from 1980 to 2010. The results showed that the coastal wetlands had undergone transformations with 39% in LRD, 85.1% in YRD, 96.5% in YtRD, and 100% in PRD, respectively. The LULC transformations were linked with six major driving processes (accretion, erosion, reclamation, restoration, succession, and regressive succession) and were impacted by complex coupled effects between natural and anthropogenic drivers. Reclamation‐related LULC transformation types dominated in the four river deltas and had greater spatiotemporal interactions than the other driving processes. Reclamation and restoration as well as accretion and erosion showed high positive correlations in all four river deltas, but other pairwise correlations of driving processes presented regional variations. This study presents an overview of the patterns and processes of complex multitemporal LULC dynamics and can be replicated elsewhere in areas where land reclamation activities are entangled with natural processes. A ‘scrolling’ development pattern with reasonable magnitudes of land reclamation for the river deltas is proposed as a spatial strategy to minimize the adverse ecological impacts of human activity.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking three decades of land use and land cover transformation trajectories in China's large river deltas

Bai

et al. 2019

Land Degrad Dev

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“…The revegetation of mine dumps is very difficult and requires human participation due to the infertile conditions [53]. The restoration technique for mine dumps involves covering the soil and then planting vegetation.…”

Section: Effect Of Vegetation Pattern On Remediation Efficiency Of Somentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Vegetation Pattern and Spontaneous Succession on Remediation of Potential Toxic Metal-Polluted Soil in Mine Dumps

Chen

Yang

et al. 2019

Sustainability

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The ecological rehabilitation of potential toxic metal-contaminated soils in sites disturbed by mining has been a great challenge in recent decades. Phytoremediation is one of the most widely promoted renovation methods due to its environmental friendliness and low cost. However, there is a lack of in situ investigation on the influence of vegetation pattern and spontaneous succession on the rehabilitation of potential toxic metal-polluted soil. To clarify how the vegetation pattern in the early stage of restoration and the spontaneous succession influence the remediation of the soil, we investigated a metal mining dump in Sichuan, China, by field investigation and laboratory analysis. We determined the plant growth, soil fertility, and the capacity of potential toxic metals (PTMs) in metal mining soil under different initial vegetation patterns for different years to understand the role of vegetation pattern and spontaneous succession in PTM pollution phytoremediation projects. The results show that: (1) Phytoremediation with a simple initial vegetation pattern (RP rehabilitative plant pattern) which involves two rehabilitation plants, Agave sisalana and Neyraudia reynaudiana, achieves a PTM pollution index that is 9.28% lower than that obtained with the complex vegetation pattern (RP&LP rehabilitation plants mixed with local plants pattern), 21.86% lower in the soil fertility index, and 73.69% lower in the biodiversity index; (2) The phytoremediation with the 10-year RP&LP pattern was associated with a PTM pollution index that was 4.04% higher than that for the 17-year RP&LP pattern, a soil fertility index that was 4.48% lower, and a biodiversity index that was 12.49% lower. During the process of vegetation succession, if accumulator plants face inhibition of growth or retreat, the reclamation rate will decrease. The vegetation patterns influence the effect of phytoremediation. Spontaneous vegetation succession will cause the phytoremediation process to deviate from the intended target. Therefore, according to the goal of vegetation restoration, choosing a suitable vegetation pattern is the main premise to ensure the effect of phytoremediation. The indispensable manipulation of succession is significant during the succession series, and more attention should be paid to the rehabilitative plants to ensure the stable effect of reclamation. The results obtained in this study could provide a guideline for the in situ remediation of PTM-polluted soil in China. is widely employed around the world since it is a low-cost method of environmental protection. Although phytoremediation has many advantages, there are also many limitations to its effective implementation [8][9][10][11]. Rehabilitation plant species play the key role in reclamation projects, particularly the high accumulation plants which still have different definitions [12]. In the future, genetics may be used to produce new high accumulation plants [13]. These plants can absorb potential toxic metals in soil and thus reduce the negative effects on ecosyste...

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“…Heavy metals could enter water bodies such as rivers via direct effluent discharge to the rivers and could be a massive problem especially in developing countries where effluent quality standard is not strictly enforced by regulatory authorities. Another means of entry into rivers could be by run-off carrying the heavy metals from already polluted soil and transporting the heavy metals (which are partitioned in the water phase and sediments) to the river and polluting the later [9].…”

Section: Sediments and Water Column Contamination By Heavy Metals In mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sediments and Water Column Contamination by Heavy Metals in Ekulu River, Nigeria: Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment

et al. 2019

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Acid mine drainage from a defunct coal mine, agricultural run-off and indiscriminate waste disposal constitute major threat to the quality of Ekulu river of Enugu State, Nigeria. In this study, Ekulu river sediments and water column pollution by heavy metals and the associated ecological and human health exposure risks were assessed. The heavy metals were measured using atomic absorption spectrometry. The parameters used in assessing the pollution of the sediments were contamination factor, contamination degree, geochemical accumulation index and pollution load index whereas the ecological risk of the heavy metals in the sediments was assessed using potential ecological risk index. The parameters employed in assessing the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of exposure by humans to the heavy metals were hazard index and risk index. The results obtained indicate that the chromium and lead input into the sediments around the defunct coal mine area during the wet season was significant and most probably due to the discharge of acid coal mine drainage into the river. Elevated values of ecological and human health exposure risks around 4 km distance away (Damija) from the defunct coal-mine area are most likely due to anthropogenic activities.

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How Human Activities Affect Heavy Metal Contamination of Soil and Sediment in a Long-Term Reclaimed Area of the Liaohe River Delta, North China

Cited by 129 publications

References 47 publications

Tracking three decades of land use and land cover transformation trajectories in China's large river deltas

Tracking three decades of land use and land cover transformation trajectories in China's large river deltas

Effects of Vegetation Pattern and Spontaneous Succession on Remediation of Potential Toxic Metal-Polluted Soil in Mine Dumps

Sediments and Water Column Contamination by Heavy Metals in Ekulu River, Nigeria: Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment

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