Elemental contaminants in surface sediments from Jiulong River Estuary, China: Pollution level and ecotoxicological risk assessment
Journal
Water (Switzerland)
Journal Volume
12
Journal Issue
6
Date Issued
2020
Author(s)
Abstract
Estuaries, being the transitional zones between freshwater and marine environments, are important for protecting and rehabilitating the aquatic environments. Sediments from freshwater and marine environments were studied in Jiulong River Estuary (JRE) in different years for rare earth elements (REEs) and some environmentally important metal and metalloid elements (MMEs). The concentration of REEs ranged from 0.11 (Tm) to 296.20 mg kg-1 (Ce), while that of MMEs ranged from 0.40 (Cd) to 86,000 mg kg-1 (Al). The temporal analysis indicated an increase of both REEs and MMEs contaminants from 2012 to 2018. Fractionation of REEs and Ce and Eu anomalies indicated natural weathering, erosion processes and changes in redox chemistry at the sampling sites. Spatial structure analysis showed relatively higher levels of both REEs and MMEs in the freshwater sediments. These variations among the sampling sites indicated different land use and anthropogenic activities. The values of enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) indicated anthropogenic sources of accumulation, while, ecological risk assessment (Eix) and potential ecological risk index (PERI) indicated potential hazards for biota due to the accumulation of Pb, Zn and As elements. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
Jiulong river estuary; Metal and metalloid elements; Pollution; Potential ecological risk; Rare earth elements
Other Subjects
Biohazards; Estuaries; Land use; Rare earths; Risk assessment; Sediments; Water; Anthropogenic activity; Ecological risk assessment; Ecotoxicological risk assessment; Elemental contaminants; Geo-accumulation index; Potential ecological risk; Rare earth elements (REEs); Spatial structure analysis; River pollution; anthropogenic source; concentration (composition); freshwater environment; geoaccumulation index; human activity; marine environment; marine sediment; metalloid; redox conditions; sampling; temporal analysis; transition zone; China; Fujian; Jiulong Estuary
Type
journal article