Trace metals and their source in the catchment of the high altitude Lake Respomuso, Central Pyrenees

Wang

Science of The Total Environment

et al. 2015

147

• Cr, Zn, Cu, As, Cd, and Pb in soils along the highway are related to the traffic.• There are three distribution patterns of the traffic-related metals in soils.• Regional differences had significant relationship with the enrichment levels.• Cd was the prior metal and the TTH was the key area for soil environment monitoring. The road transportation could affect roadside soils environment detrimentally, including heavy metal enrichment. In order to identify and evaluate the enrichment of heavy metals resulted from road transportation on the Tibetan Plateau, the 11 heavy metals (V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Rb, Pb and Tl) in the topsoil (0-10 cm depth) from four sites along the Qinghai-Tibet highway were discussed in this study. Our results indicate that heavy metals such as Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb are related to road transportation. The content of most of these heavy metals in roadside soils decreased exponentially with the distance from the road, as did some of the Nemero Synthesis Indexes (PN values). The contamination factor for the traffic-related metals ranged from 0.56 (no pollution) to 5.67 (considerable pollution) and the Nemero Synthesis Indexes of these heavy metals ranged from 0.80 (no pollution) to 4.49 (severe pollution). Cd was of priority concern as it had the highest contamination factor. The highest PN value for these traffic-related heavy metals was found in soils at site TTH (alpine steppe). Although transportation contributed to the high contents of these traffic-related metals in roadside environments, regional differences such as wind and the terrain also had significant relationship with their enrichment in these roadside soils. The roadside distance at which there is a potential risk to livestock and wildlife from the contamination of soils by heavy metals should be determined scientifically along the Qinghai-Tibet highway, based on the different natural environments found in the region. a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o

Section: Interrelationships Among Heavy Metals In Soils Along the Qinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of traffic-related metals and the effects of different environments on their enrichment in roadside soils along the Qinghai–Tibet highway

Wang

Science of The Total Environment

et al. 2015

147

Science of The Total Environment

“…It also corresponded to the sedimentation laminae along the profile, likely produced during spring thaw, which implies sediments were not disturbed by mixing. Furthermore, sediment metal content from the present study was compared to surface sediment data collected throughout the catchment (Zaharescu et al, 2009a andZaharescu et al, 2009b). Climate data were provided by the Spanish National Institute of Meteorology, Madrid (INM) and covered the period 1972-2005. 2.4 Particle size distribution.…”

Section: Samples Collection and Profile Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There may be some localised emissions from tourism activities in the catchment. However, local aerial contribution during peak tourism season is low (Zaharescu et al, 2009). The economy in the valley is mostly tourism dependent.…”

Section: Supplementary Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change enhances the mobilisation of naturally occurring metals in high altitude environments

Zaharescu

Hooda

Burghelea

et al. 2016

Self Cite

Graphical abstract: Catchment of Lake Respomuso in the central Pyrenees (Spain) experiencing increased metal mobilization due to climate change effects, including an increase in spring freezing level.Author copy. Published in Science of the Total Environment 04/2016; 560-561: 73-81 2 AbstractManmade climate change has expressed a plethora of complex effects on Earth's biogeochemical compartments. Climate change may also affect the mobilisation of natural metal sources, with potential ecological consequences beyond mountains' geographical limits; however, this question has remained largely unexplored. We investigated this by analysing a number of key climatic factors in relationship with trace metal accumulation in the sediment core of a Pyrenean lake. The sediment metal contents showed increasing accumulation trend over time, and their levels varied in step with recent climate change. The findings further revealed that a rise in the elevation of freezing level, a general increase in the frequency of drier periods, changes in the frequency of winter freezing days and a reducing snow cover since the early 1980s, together are responsible for the observed variability and augmented accumulation of trace metals. Our results provide clear evidence of increased mobilisation of natural metal sources -an overlooked effect of climate change on the environment. With further alterations in climate equilibrium predicted over the ensuing decades, it is likely that mountain catchments in metamorphic areas may become significant sources of trace metals, with potentially harmful consequences for the wider environment.

Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S

“…Principal component analysis (PCA) has been widely applied to assess the sources and original variables of the contaminants by reason of reduction in the dimensionality of the variables and integration in the majority of parameters with lesser factors combined with knowledge of activities in the researched region [20][21][22]. The resulting clusters help identify relatively homogeneous groups of variables [23].…”

Section: Multivariate Analysis Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Risk Assessment Of Heavy Metals In Sediments Of A Riverine Wetland, Huaihe River Watershed, China

Yuan

Pan

Zhu

et al. 2015

Abstract:The concentrations of Zn, Cr, Cu, As, Cd, and Pb in sediment cores collected from a representative riverine wetland located in the Huaihe River watershed, China, dramaticlly increased from the bottom to upper layer of the cores. Application of principal component analysis (PCA) and enrichment factor (EF) suggested that heavy metals might primarily have been derived from the inflow of contaminated water from an industrial park and agricultural region. Component 1 of the PCA was dominated by Zn, Cr, Cu, Cd, and Pb, while Component 2 was dominated by As. Metals' high concentrations and EF values showed that the anthropogenic pollutants have increased sharply in recent years and reflect the continuous development of industry and agriculture in the region of the wetland, with a corresponding dramatic deterioration of the environment due to constant effluent of pollutants. Cd exerted the highest potential ecological risk of individual metals of sediment cores. Additionally, integrated RI values for all metals indicated that sediments possessed low ecological risk from the bottom to about 6 cm depth of the cores, moderate ecological risk from about 5 cm depth upwards, then considerable ecological risk from 4 cm depth to the top layer of the sediment cores, which demonstrates a continuous deterioration of environmental quality in recent years in this region.