Pollution assessment of heavy metals along the Mekong River and dam effects

Fu, Kaidao; Su, Bin; He, Daming; Lu, Xixi; Song, Jingyi; Huang, Jiangcheng

doi:10.1007/s11442-012-0969-3

Cited by 41 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The geoaccumulation index (I geo ) developed by Müller (1969) was previously adopted to assess metal pollution (Wei et al, 2009;Fu et al, 2012). In this study, I geo was used to identify whether the road dust in Bayan Obo were polluted by heavy metals and quantify the degree of the contamination.…”

Section: Geoaccumulation Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contamination and health risk assessment of heavy metals in road dust in Bayan Obo Mining Region in Inner Mongolia, North China

2015

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Abstract:The objective of this study was to investigate the concentration and spatial distribution patterns of 9 potentially toxic heavy metal elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Pb, Cu, Zn, Mn, and Ni) in road dust in the Bayan Obo Mining Region in Inner Mongolia, China. Contamination levels were evaluated using the geoaccumulation index and the enrichment factor. Human health risks for each heavy metal element were assessed using a human exposure model. Results showed that the dust contained significantly elevated heavy metal elements concentrations compared with the background soil. The spatial distribution pattern of all tested metals except for As coincided with the locations of industrial areas while the spatial distribution of As was associated with domestic sources. The contamination evaluation indicated that Cd, Pb, and Mn in road dust mainly originated from anthropogenic sources with a rating of "heavily polluted" to "extremely polluted," whereas the remaining metals originated from both natural and anthropogenic sources with a level of "moderately polluted". The non-cancer health risk assessment showed that ingestion was the primary exposure route for all metals in the road dust and that Mn, Cr, Pb, and As were the main contributors to non-cancer risks in both children and adults. Higher HI values were calculated for children (HI=1.89), indicating that children will likely experience higher health risks compared with adults (HI=0.23). The cancer risk assessment showed that Cr was the main contributor, with cancer risks which were 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than those for other metals. Taken in concert, the non-cancer risks posed by all studied heavy metal elements and the cancer risks posed by As, Co, Cr, Cd, and Ni to both children and adults in Bayan Obo Mining Region fell within the acceptable range.

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Section: Geoaccumulation Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contamination and health risk assessment of heavy metals in road dust in Bayan Obo Mining Region in Inner Mongolia, North China

2015

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“…Additionally, the background levels of Cu and Pb for torrid red soil were the highest of the 41 types of soils tested according to the results of the National Survey (Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China, 1990). For example, a very high Cr concentration of 762.90 mg·kg −1 was observed in the river bed sands in the Mekong River, and torrid red soil is widely distributed in that region's DHV (Fu et al, 2012). Furthermore, a combination of factors (low precipitation and high evaporation; Zhang, 1992), steep slopes (Table 1), and loss of farm labor in recent years (Xia, 2009) limited the implementation of alternative farming practices in the DHV region.…”

Section: Heavy Metal Contamination In the Dhvmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the national survey of soil elements, in this region, the background values of Pb are 1.58-fold and of Cu are 1.44-fold higher than the national average. Severe soil erosion caused by high sand content in the soils and steep slopes in the DHV (Yang et al, 2003) may contribute to heavy metal pollution in the river system (Cenci and Martin, 2004;Fu et al, 2012) because of increased sediment loads (He et al, 2007;Le et al, 2007;Miao et al, 2010). Furthermore, hydropower exploitation via the proposed cascade reservoir system in the Upper Red River (Zhai et al, 2007) may submerge parts of the DHV, making this region a potential source of heavy metal pollution in downstream agricultural products, fisheries, and river ecosystems (Phan et al, 2013;Steininger, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial distribution and environmental factors of catchment-scale soil heavy metal contamination in the dry-hot valley of Upper Red River in southwestern China

Duan

Zhang

et al. 2015

CATENA

Self Cite

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oThe severe soil erosion in the dry-hot valley (DHV) in southwestern China may result in heavy metal pollution in the Red River. However, little is known concerning the level of contamination, spatial distribution and environmental controls of the heavy metals in the soils of the DHV. Heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils in a typical DHV catchment were investigated. Soil samples from both the topsoil (0-20 cm) and subsoil (20-40 cm) were collected at sixty-two sites, and the soil physical and chemical properties of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter contents; soil pH; bulk density; and the concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb were determined. Topographic factors of slope gradient, slope aspect, elevation, and topographic wetness index at each site were calculated using DEM. Kriging and canonical correspondence analyses were used to assess the spatial distribution of and environmental controls on heavy metals. The results demonstrated that the concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb in the DHV were higher than most of the reported values for agricultural soils worldwide and that the DHV may constitute a potential source of heavy metal pollution in the Red River. Considering each heavy metal individually, the vertical distribution in the topsoil and subsoil was similar at all of the sampling sites. High concentrations of Cr, Ni, Zn and Pb were observed at low elevations and low slope areas, and the spatial distribution pattern of Cu was contrary to that of Cr, Ni, Zn and Pb. The concentrations of heavy metals in the topsoil were controlled by both soil and topographical factors, while in the subsoil, they were primarily controlled by soil-related factors. It is concluded that high background concentrations, uncontrolled use of chemical fertilizers, and mining are the sources responsible for heavy metal contamination in the DHV region.

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“…These have provided a reasonable basis for planning the rational usage of water resources in some regions (Dang et al 2002;Rattan et al 2005;Lokeshwari and Chandrappa 2006;Zhang et al 2011;Ma et al 2013). However, previous studies have mostly focused on the rapid development of urban areas, industrial areas, mining exploitation places, and agricultural sewage irrigation lands (Kalay et al 1999;Cheng et al 2002;Singh et al 2005;Sridhara Chary et al 2008;Fu et al 2006Fu et al , 2012. In China, this research has mostly referenced the surface water quality standards of People's Republic of China and the local water environment background values and used the single pollution index method or integrated pollution index method to evaluate the water quality and the levels of contamination (Facchinelli et al 2001;Bradl 2004;Erdem et al 2004;Zhang et al 2005;Li et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy metal contamination, sources, and pollution assessment of surface water in the Tianshan Mountains of China

Zhang

Abuduwaili

Jiang

2015

Environ Monit Assess

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In order to gain insight into heavy metal contamination occurring in the surface water of the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China, we collected surface water samples from there, tested heavy metals Pb, Ni, Cd, Co, Hg, As, Cu, Mn, Zn, and Cr, and then we analyzed the data using typical analysis, multivariate statistical, and pollution index methods. Results showed that (1) the order of the average values of the ten kinds of heavy metals in all the water samples was as follows: Zn > Mn > Cu > Co > Ni > Pb > Cr > As > Hg > Cd. The maximum variation coefficients of Zn and Pb were 138.96 and 145.86 %, respectively, indicating that these heavy metal concentrations varied largely between different sampling locations. (2) Research showed the average concentrations of Pb, Cd, As, Cu, Zn, and Cr were all within the national surface water standard of class IV and those of As, Cu, Mn, and Cr were all within the range of the Drinking Water Guidelines from the WHO, indicating the surface water of the Tianshan Mountains is clean. (3) Multivariate statistical analysis showed that Cu, Cd, Mn, Hg, Zn, and Pb have close correlations, and they mainly came from artificial sources; while Ni, As, Co, Cu, and Cr mainly came from natural sources. The results of correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis are consistent. (4) Pollution evaluation showed the values of comprehensive pollution index (WQI) of ten kinds of heavy metals in three sections were all lower than 2, suggesting the low levels of pollution, while the over-limit ratios of Pb and Zn in water samples of the middle Urumqi-Akesu section, As in the western Zhaosu-Tekesi section, and Pb, Hg, and Zn in the eastern Balikun-Yiwu section were all above 10 %. This research shows that recent economic development of the Tianshan Mountains has negatively influenced the heavy metal concentrations in the surface water, although the concentrations of the ten kinds of tested heavy metals are relatively low.

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Pollution assessment of heavy metals along the Mekong River and dam effects

Cited by 41 publications

References 21 publications

Contamination and health risk assessment of heavy metals in road dust in Bayan Obo Mining Region in Inner Mongolia, North China

Contamination and health risk assessment of heavy metals in road dust in Bayan Obo Mining Region in Inner Mongolia, North China

Spatial distribution and environmental factors of catchment-scale soil heavy metal contamination in the dry-hot valley of Upper Red River in southwestern China

Heavy metal contamination, sources, and pollution assessment of surface water in the Tianshan Mountains of China

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