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Heavy metals in sediments, soils, and aquatic plants from a secondary anabranch of the three gorges reservoir region, China

  • Recent sediments: environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology and engineering
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Abstract

We investigated the occurrence of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), Znic (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and magnesium (Mg) in sediments, as well as in related soils and aquatic plants in the Liangtan River, a typical secondary anabranch of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR) of China. We found that sediments accumulated more metals than soils and aquatic plants. Concentrations of the nine metals in sediments and soils followed the same sequence, while their concentrations in aquatic plants followed a different sequence. Potential adverse effects of contaminated sediments on benthic fauna were evaluated, and the results showed that the toxic effect on benthic organisms followed the sequence Zn > Ni > Cr > Cu > Cd > Pb. The potential ecological risk index analysis indicated that Cd in sediments had considerable ecological risk, whereas Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni, and Pb had low ecological risk. The potential ecological risk index (RI) of the heavy metals in sediments of the Liangtan River was 174.9, indicating moderate ecological risk. The transfer factor trend of metals for aquatic plants showed that Cd and Ni had the most and least accumulation, respectively. For Cu, Cd, Mg, Pb, and Cr, a significant positive correlation of the metal concentrations was observed between sediments and soils, but no correlations (excluding Cr) were detected between sediments and aquatic plants. Our study indicated that anthropogenic input may be the primary source of metal contamination in the Liangtan River, and that Zn and Cd pollution in the Liangtan River should be further explored.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21107147), Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Science (grant NO. RAE2014AA04B), and the Natural Science Foundation Project of CQ CSTC (cstc2015jcyjA1271). We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Jun-min Gao, Xiu-qian Sun, Wen-chao Jiang, Yun-mei Wei, Jin-song Guo, Yuan-yuan Liu & Ke Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China

    Jin-song Guo

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  1. Jun-min Gao
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  2. Xiu-qian Sun
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  3. Wen-chao Jiang
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  4. Yun-mei Wei
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  5. Jin-song Guo
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  6. Yuan-yuan Liu
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  7. Ke Zhang
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Correspondence to Jun-min Gao or Wen-chao Jiang.

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Responsible editor: Céline Guéguen

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Gao, Jm., Sun, Xq., Jiang, Wc. et al. Heavy metals in sediments, soils, and aquatic plants from a secondary anabranch of the three gorges reservoir region, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 10415–10425 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6587-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6587-3

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