Speciation and ecological risk of heavy metals in intertidal sediments of Quanzhou Bay, China

Abstract

The chemical speciation of nine heavy metals in intertidal sediments from Quanzhou Bay was determined using a modified sequential extraction procedure, proposed by the Commission of the European Community Bureau of Reference. The results show that Mn presents the highest percentage in the acid-soluble fraction, and Pb and Cu present the highest percentages in the reducible fraction. The highest percentages of Fe, V, Cr, Ni, Zn, and Co were found in the residual fraction. The mobility order of the heavy metals studied on the basis of the nonresidual content of the elements is Mn > Pb > Cu > Co > Zn > Ni > Cr > V > Fe. The assessment on potential ecological risk indices of some heavy metals indicates that Zn, Ni, and Cr show moderate contamination, while Cu and Pb show slighter contamination. On the whole, the comprehensive potential ecological risk index of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr, and Pb in the sediments presents moderate degree.

Heavy metal pollution in sediments of a typical mariculture zone in South China

“…Table 1 shows that the ranges of Al, Fe, Cd, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Pb and Cr levels measured in this study were comparable to those reported in earlier studies (Qiu and Zhu, 2004;Qiu et al, 2005Qiu et al, , 2011. Furthermore, the ranges of these metal contents were relatively low compared to the sediments in other polluted estuaries in China, such as Jiaozhou Bay (Dai et al, 2007), Jinzhou Bay (Fan et al, 2008) and Quanzhou Bay (Yu et al, 2010). Qiu et al (2011) reported one sample with Pb content as high as 1088 mg/kg dw in the surface sediment in Hailing Bay.…”

“…Many studies have shown that heavy metals in sediments could significantly impact the health of marine ecosystem (Snodgrass et al, 2008;Zheng et al, 2008;Besser et al, 2009). The toxicity and mobility of heavy metals in sediments vary greatly among different chemical forms (Perin et al, 1985;Cuong and Obbard, 2006;Fan et al, 2008;Yu et al, 2010). Thus, the simple measurement of heavy metal content cannot provide sufficient information about their mobility and bioavailability, and consequently the risk to the marine ecosystem.…”

Speciation and ecological risk of heavy metals and metalloid in the sediments of Zhalong Wetland in China

“…Different chemical species of heavy metals have different activity, toxicity, and mobilization (Cai et al 2011;Lu et al 2010;Zheng et al 2013). The changing environment can also result in the transformation of heavy metals between particulate forms and dissolved form (Teasdale et al 2003;Yu and Hu 2008). Consequently, study of the speciation of heavy metals has become an important topic in aquatic research helping to identify anthropogenic sources of pollution as well as evaluation of potential ecological risk posed by heavy metals.…”

Distribution, Speciation and Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in the Surface Sediments of Sanmen Bay in ZheJiang

“…Quality control The quality control of sequential extraction was conducted using the national standard material GBW 07314 (Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administraten). Different fractions were used to test the accuracy of sequential extraction [16,17].…”