Contamination, fraction, and source apportionment of heavy metals in sediment of an industrialized urban river in China.

In this study, we conducted an analysis of the heavy metal concentrations, health risk assessment, fraction and source interpretation in surface and core sediments from main stream of the Pearl River and Pearl River Estuary (RRE) area. Results showed that the higher deposited heavy metal concentrations in sediments occur at the Pearl River. The concentrations of heavy metals in surface sediments from the studied locations are in a descending order: Zn > Cr > Cu > Ni > Pb > Cd. Regarding chemical fractions, Cd showed the highest proportion of acid soluble fraction (F1) among all studied heavy metals. The high mobility of Cd poses a significant threat to water bodies and the surrounding environment. The potential ecological risk index (RI) showed the Pearl River sediments exhibited significantly higher values than the estuary sediments. Cd was found to be the primary contributor to potential ecological risk, accounting for 74% of RI. The health risk assessment showed the total hazard index (HI) for child was exceeded 1 mainly driven by Zn, indicating that the child population was at risk of non-carcinogenic effects. Besides, unacceptable carcinogenic risk in both Pearl River and estuary area were observed for children. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was used to ascertain sources of six heavy metals and apportion their contributions in sediments. The results showed that the source contributions of natural, industrial, and mixed sources from coal combustion and traffic emissions accounted for 39.81%, 34.10%, 26.10%.

Seasonal variations of cadmium (Cd) speciation and mobility in sediments from the Xizhi River basin, South China, based on passive sampling techniques and a thermodynamic chemical equilibrium model.

Understanding the speciation and mobilization mechanisms of potentially toxic metals in sediments is critical to aquatic ecosystem health and contamination remediation in urban rivers. In this study, chemical sequential extraction, a thermodynamic chemical equilibrium model (Visual MINTEQ ver. 3.1), diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT), and high-resolution dialysis (HR-Peeper) techniques were integrated to identify seasonal variations in cadmium (Cd) mobility in sulfidized sediments. Acid-soluble Cd was the dominant geochemical fraction in sediments, followed by residual, oxidizable, and reducible Cd. The DGT-labile Cd concentration was associated with various geochemical processes and was independent of the total concentration and geochemical fractionation of Cd in sediments. Sulfate reduction facilitated the formation of insoluble CdS and induced low Cd concentrations in sediment porewater. Sulfide oxidation was principally responsible for lowered porewater pH and elevated Cd concentrations in summer. Strongly acidic conditions promoted release of sediment Cd but might reduce the binding efficiency of Chelex resin gel for dissolved Cd, leading to underestimation of the mobility of sediment Cd. Sediments generally functioned as a sink for Cd in winter and shifted to acting as a source in summer, releasing Cd into the overlying water mainly as Cd-S complexes with high potential to migrate downstream.

Assessment of Metal Pollution, Its Potential Health Risks, and Origin in Different Land Use Types in Zhuhai City, China.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current status of metal concentrations in soil from Zhuhai City. We detected the concentrations of eight metal elements in 67 topsoil samples collected from three typical land use types (water source land, n = 27; industrial land, n = 25; and farmland, n = 15) in Zhuhai. Multivariate geostatistical analyses indicated that the concentrations of Cu, Zn, and Cd may have originated from anthropogenic sources, whereas Pb and As mostly originated from natural sources. Additionally, Cr, Ni, and Hg may have come from mixed sources. The pollution index and the potential ecological risk were used to identify the general contamination characteristics of soil metals. The soil samples from industrial land were more polluted (60% of soil samples in industrial land were unpolluted to moderately polluted, and 40% were moderately polluted) and posed greater risk (28.6% of industrial soil samples were very high risk, and 71.4% were considerable risk) than samples from water source land and farmland. On the whole, the health risks posed by soil metals were acceptable or close to tolerable, and Cd was the most important pollutant contributing to human health risks. Comparatively speaking, children were the most vulnerable population to the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of contaminated soils from industrial land. Our results provide fundamental information for improving soil environmental management and metal pollution prevention and control in Zhuhai City.

[Vertical Migration Characteristics of Organochlorine Pesticides in Overlying Soil in Karst Terranes and Its Impact on Groundwater].

Five soil profiles and four typical epikarst springs were selected in Nanchuan District, Chongqing Municipality as objects of the study on vertical migration of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the soils and its impact on groundwater. OCPs in soil and epikarst spring water samples were quantitatively analyzed by gas chromatography. The results showed that HCHs and DDTs were detected in all the 5 soil profiles, varying in the range of 0.77-18.3 and 0.34-226 ng · g(-1), and averaging 5.16 and 16 ng · g(-1) in concentration, respectively. The highest concentrations of HCHs and DDTs were found in the subsoil (10-40 cm) in most sampling sites. The detection ratios of HCHs and DDTs in four springs were 100%. The concentrations of HCHs and DDTs fluctuated greatly in epikarst spring water during the one-year observation, and the concentration ranged from 2.09 to 60.1 and from N. D. to 79.8 ng · L(-1), with a mean value of 12 and 9.16 ng · L(-1), respectively. The concentrations of HCHs and DDTs in Hougou, Baishuwan and Lanhuagou spring in rainy season were all. higher than those in dry season in these three epikarst springs. There were no good corresponding relationship between HCHs and DDTs contents in spring water and those in corresponding spring catchment soil. TOC, soil water content, clay content and pH all inhibited the vertical migration of OCPs in Hougou spring catchment, which led to the lowest content of OCPs in spring water, although the OCPs content in Hougou spring catchment soils was the highest in the four spring catchments. However, the four factors didn't inhibit the vertical migration of OCPs in Shuifang spring catchment, which led to higher OCPs content in spring water, although the OCPs content in spring catchment soils was the lowest in the four spring catchments.

[Altitudinal Gradient Distribution and Source Analysis of PAHs Content of Topsoil in Jinfo Mountain, Chongqing].

The condensation effect has made high mountains the storage vault of durable organic pollutants. This research measured the content and constitutes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 10 topsoil samples collected at different altitudes from the south slope of Chongqing Jinfo Mountain by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC/MC). And the pollution source of PAHs was analyzed by ratio method and principal component regression. The ecological risk of PAHs was evaluated using BaP toxic equivlants (TEQ(BaP)) The results showed that the concentrations of 16 priority PAHs in topsoil ranged from 240-2 121 ng x g(-1). The average value of PAHs was 849 ng x g(-1), and 2 to 3-ring PAHs were the dominant compounds. The concentrations of 7 carcinogenic PAHs accounted for 17.8% of total PAHs averagely. In the research area, various-ring PAHs and gross PAHs increased with the rise of altitude. The increase of low-ring PAHs was most obvious, and the volatility of high-ring PAHs was relatively high. But the ratio of different-ring PAHs in gross PAHs showed no regularity with the rise of altitude. The PAHs of soil in the research area mainly came from the oil sources, oil products, and combustion sources of coal and biomass. In the research area, the soil has been polluted to a certain extent, but the toxicity risk is relatively low.

[Variation Characteristics and Sources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Karst Subterranean River During Rainfall Events].

The water samples were continuously collected at the outlet of Nanshan Laolongdong subterranean river basin, which is located in Chongqing, during the rainfall event in June 2014. Sixteen priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water were quantitatively analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The objectives of this study were to reveal the variation characteristics and sources of PAH16 in karst subterranean river during the rainfall event. The results showed that the subterranean river responded promptly to the rainfall, and there were four peaks of the total concentrations of PAH16, two peaks occurred during the flow rise stage, the others were in the maximum flow and flow decline stages. The total concentrations of PAH16 ranged 101-3 624 ng x L(-1), with a mean of 578 ng x L(-1), the total concentrations of 7 carcinogenic PAHs ranged ND-336 ng x L(-1), with a mean of 31.1 ng x L(-1). The PAH compositional profiles were dominated by 2,3-ring compounds, which accounted for 86.17% of the total concentrations of PAH16. The total concentrations of PAH16 were most influenced by the rainfall, through the cleaning of atmospheric pollutants by the rain and the scouring of the surface contaminants by the rainfall runoff. The PAHs in water mainly originated from the incomplete combustion of petroleum products and fossil fuels such as coal, as well as natural digenetic process. Compared to other areas in the world, the concentrations of PAH16 were generally at moderately polluted and heavily polluted levels.