Sources and ecological risk assessment of the seawater potentially toxic elements in Yangtze River Estuary during 2009–2018

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand the sources of potentially toxic elements (PTE) and provide some suggestions to control PTE pollution. For this purpose, data from 30 monitoring stations for 2009-2018 were used to assess the PTE concentrations of Hg, Cu, Pb, Cd, Zn, and As in the Yangtze River Estuary. The PTE concentrations varied significantly (P < 0.05) by one-way ANOVA in the ranges of 0.002-0.224 (Hg, 0.043 ± 0.032), 0-9.700 (Cu, 1.600 ± 1.000), 0-3.900 (Pb, 1.000 ± 0.700), 0.002-0.370 (Cd, 0.050 ± 1.000), 0.100-85.000 (Zn, 14.000 ± 13.000), and 0.998-3.290 μg/L (As, 1.857 ± 0.455). Generally, the PTE concentrations decreased from year to year and were consistently satisfied the "grade-one seawater" quality standard after 2014. The concentrations of Cu, Cd, Zn, and As decreased as far from inshore, while increased closer to land in the estuary. Concentrations of Pb and Hg showed differences because of local industrial and aquacultural activities. This study identified three clusters and two PTE sources and provided some constructive suggestions for pollution control in PTE.

Study of Heavy Metals and Microbial Communities in Contaminated Sediments Along an Urban Estuary

“…This can be largely attributed to the rapid growth in industrial activities and input over the past decades. In the Yangtze River delta, accumulating Cu, Cr, and Zn are primarily contributed by natural sources with added input from industries such as anti-fouling paints in shipping activities, agricultural fertilizers, metal mining and refinery; Cd and Pb are trace metals more commonly derived from atmospheric emission and deposition, and industrial discharges from electroplating plants (Yin S. et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2019;Hu et al, 2021). Together, excessive concentrations of these heavy metals pose a multitude of environmental health risks that destabilize an ecosystem through toxic impact on the biota, which can subsequently lead to human health risks.…”