See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308575778 Heavy metals in the riverbed surface sediment of the Yellow River, China Article in Environmental Science and Pollution Research · December 2016 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-7712-z CITATIONS READS 17 242 9 authors, including: Feifei Wang Wang Lei Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School 12 PUBLICATIONS 401 CITATIONS 24 PUBLICATIONS 475 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Wang Lei on 31 January 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Environ Sci Pollut Res DOI 10.1007/s11356-016-7712-z RESEARCH ARTICLE Heavy metals in the riverbed surface sediment of the Yellow River, China Qingyu Guan1 & Ao Cai1 & Feifei Wang1 & Lei Wang1 & Tao Wu 1 & Baotian Pan 1 & Na Song1 & Fuchun Li 1 & Min Lu1 Received: 28 May 2016 /Accepted: 14 September 2016 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract One hundred and eleven riverbed surface sediment ately contaminated with Ti, Mn, V and Cr because of the dual (RSS) samples were collected to determine the heavy metal influence of anthropogenic activities and nature; and slightly concentration throughout the Inner Mongolia reach of the to not contaminated with Co because it occurs mainly in the Yellow River (IMYR), which has been subjected to rapid eco- bordering desert areas. nomic and industrial development over the past several de- cades. Comprehensive analysis of heavy metal contamination, Keywords The Yellow River . Surface sediment . Heavy including the enrichment factor, geo-accumulation index, con- metal . Comprehensive analysis tamination factor, pollution load index, risk index, principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and Pearson correlation analysis, was performed. Introduction The results demonstrated that a low ecological risk with a moderate level of heavy metal contamination was present in With the rapid development of the economy and industry, the IMYR due to the risk index (RI) being less than 150 and heavy metal contamination in aquatic ecosystems is becoming the pollution load index (PLI) being above 1, and the averaged a worldwide environmental problem because a disproportion- concentrations of Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Ti, V, and Zn in the ate amount of wastewater is being discharged into surface RSS, with standard deviations, were 144 ± 69, 77.91 ± 39.28, water bodies (Woitke et al. 2003; Singh et al. 2004;Sakan 22.95 ± 7.67, 596 ± 151, 28.50 ± 8.01, 3793 ± 487, et al. 2009;Songetal.2010; Hang et al. 2009;Yuetal. − 69.11 ± 18.44, and 50.19 ± 19.26 mg kg 1, respectively. 2011; Zheng et al. 2008). Heavy metals tend to be trapped in PCA, HCA, and Pearson correlation analysis revealed that aquatic environments and to accumulate in sediments during most of the RSS was heavily contaminated with Zn, Ni, and the process of adsorption, hydrolyzation, and precipitation Cu, due to the influence of anthropogenic activities; moder- (Loska and Wiechuła 2003). The contaminated sediments can act as secondary sources of pollution to the overlying water column in the river (Shipley et al. 2011; Varol 2011), and mechanical disturbance of the sediments can increase the Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues risk of contaminant release when they are re-suspended (Chen et al. 2007a). Heavy metals in aquatic environments are * Qingyu Guan [email protected] becoming a source of grave concern (Owens et al. 2005;Liu et al. 2009; Zhang et al. 2009; Varol 2011;Xuetal.2014) * Lei Wang [email protected] because of their toxicity, persistence in the environment (Li et al. 2013; Karlsson et al. 2010;Khanetal.2013), transport through flowing water, and subsequent accumulation in the 1 Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems bodies of aquatic microorganisms, flora, and fauna, which (Ministry of Education) and Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth may, in turn, enter the human food chain and cause a host of and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, health problems (Chen et al. 2007b;Guanetal.2016;Li China et al. 2013; Mendoza-Carranza et al. 2016). Environ Sci Pollut Res In China, historical information on heavy metal contami- flows east to the city of Togtoh, and stays in the Inner nation in riverbed surface sediments (RSS) mainly focused on Mongolia Autonomous Area for 500 km. It belongs to industrialized areas such as the deltas of the Yangtze River, the upper to middle reaches of the Yellow River in Yellow River, and Pearl River (Zhong et al. 2011; Zhang et al. terms of its geology (Fig. 1). The Yellow River flows 2009; Bai et al. 2012), with only a few studies dedicated to the through the northern border of the Hobq Desert (Yang upper reaches of the Yellow River (Ma et al. 2016). The Inner 2003), and along the southern bank of this section, 10 Mongolia reach of the Yellow River, located at the end of the tributaries named the BTen Great Gullies^ flow through upper reach of the Yellow River, is in the central region of the Hobq Desert (Fig. 1).Thisbasinisanimportant Mongolia, and it supplies the water to its neighboring cities. energy base and a primary grain producing area in north The districts bordering the Inner Mongolia reach of the Yellow China; it also plays a decisive role in both the industrial River (IMYR) are also important energy bases and major and agricultural economies. The cities along the Yellow grain producing areas in northwest China. With social and River, such as Bayan Nur, Urad Front Banner, Baotou, economic development, the cities bordering the IMYR, such and Dalad Banner, are rapidly developing their metallur- as Bayan Nur and Baotou, have been rapidly developing in- gy, leather dyestuffs, mining, chemical engineering, and dustries such as electroplating, metallurgy, leather dyestuffs, power generation industries; especially, Baotou is one of mining, chemical engineering, and power generation, giving the major aluminous manufacturing bases of China. In rise to contaminant sources and the continuous discharge of the process, drainage from mines releases heavy metal heavy metals in the main channel of the Yellow River (Li and ions, including Cu, Mn, V, Zn, and Ni, into the Yellow Zhang 2010). Most of the heavy metals are absorbed by the River from both active mines and abandoned sulfide bed materials, and because of the fast flowing stream and tailing dumps, which are likely to cause environmental discontinuously inputted sewage, monitoring the quality of problems related to both water and sediment quality the water body alone may result in misleading and (Huang et al. 2007;LiandZhang2010;Fuetal. underestimated stream contamination levels (Varol 2011). In 2014). The cities along the Yellow River, such as addition, heavy metals in the sediments of Chinese rivers are Bayan Nur, Urad Front Banner, Baotou, and Dalad not included in the monitoring list (China’s Ministry of Banner, are rapidly developing their metallurgy, leather Environmental Protection 2008). Hence, studying this aspect dyestuffs, mining, chemical engineering, and power gen- would help establish pollutant loading reduction goals, protect eration industries. This reach of the Yellow River is on the ecological environment, and preserve public health in the the fringe of the East Asian monsoon belt, and it has a Yellow River basin. The main objectives of the study were the continental climate and a low and unevenly distributed following: annual precipitation (150–363 mm). The duration of sunlight is long (≥10 °C accumulated temperature (1) To determine the magnitude and spatial variation of the 3004~3515 °C), and evaporation is intense (the annual contemporary deposition and storage of the total mean evaporation of 1939–3482 mm is as much as 10– sediment-associated heavy metals on the riverbed of 12 times the precipitation) (Yang 2003). the IMYR and to compare these values with estimates of the contamination levels with different assessment Sediment sampling and analytical procedure methods. (2) To determine the sources of sediment-associated heavy Thirty-seven sampling sites were set up in the riverbed along metals in the main channel systems of the IMYR and to the main stream of the Yellow River (Fig. 1). For each site, to explain the metal contamination in the study area. make the samples more representative, we randomly took three parallel underwater samples approximately 15 m away This study not only provides valuable information related from the bank using a homemade cylindrical steel sampler to the heavy metals in the RSS of the IMYR but also serves as (approximately 10 cm in diameter), plastic valve bags, and a resource for local and regional environmental management tying cordage, and 111 samples of the riverbed surface sedi- and water resource planning authorities. ment were obtained. All samples were analyzed for heavy metal concentration at the Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), Materials and methods Lanzhou University. The analysis procedures were identical to those described by Guan et al. (2014) and Pan et al. (2015). Study area Sample preparation involved air drying the samples and grind- ing them to yield grain sizes smaller than 75 μm. Up to 4 g of The focus of this study is the Inner Mongolia reach of the sample was weighed and poured into the center of a column Yellow River, which loops south near the city of Bayan Nur, apparatus with boric acid, and the apparatus was pressurized Environ Sci Pollut Res Fig. 1 Site location map of the IMYR. The black solid circles represent the sampling sites for the surface sediment of the riverbed (RSS, n = 37), and the brown solid circles represent the sampling sites for the surface sediments of the deserts (DSS, n =15) to 30 t m−2 for 20 s.