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Geochemical data as indicators of environmental change and human impact in sediments derived from downstream marshes of an ephemeral river, Northeast China

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Recent sedimentary history of natural environmental change and anthropogenic influence in an ephemeral river catchment has been reconstructed using selected major and trace elements, element ratios, and their different geochemical phases (Tessier sequential extraction methods), pollen, and grain size combined with 210Pb- and 137Cs-dating method in marsh sedimentary cores. Attempts were made to use selected element ratios with different geochemical phases—residual phase of Ti, Al, V, Cr, Ni, Rb, K, Sr, and Ba; mobile Sr and Ba—combined with 210Pb- and 137Cs-chronology to interpret certain time information of environmental changes saved within the marsh sediments. Results indicate that there were two marked humid periods during 1850–1860 ad and 1890–1920 ad, and sand storm activities prevailed during 1920–1930 ad. After about 1900 ad, soil erosion has increased with the extensive agricultural activities in the Huolin River catchments, and further intensified after 1950s. After 1980, soil erosion has become even more intense, which is consistent with the reinforcement of human activities, the drastic loss of vegetation cover in the upstream lands, especially, the exploitation of the open cast coalmine in the upstream of Huolin River at that time. Influenced by the inundation of the Huolin River, the heavy metal pollution historical trends in Xianghai marsh wetland could be roughly divided into three periods by analysis of sediment enrichment factor (KSEF) and the index of geoaccumulation (I geo):1760–1880 ad, 1880–1980 ad, and 1980–now. Human activities accelerate the inputs of heavy metal, which leads to degradation of the marsh. This study also investigated on source of marsh sediments (by Ti/Al), redox condition [by V/Cr and V/(V + Ni)], and salinization indicators (by Sr/Ba and Rb/K). The results demonstrate that sources of sediments and redox conditions were partly similar for both riparian and depressional marshes. Besides, some differences in degree of salinization between two types of marsh were also identified, especially after 1880.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful and constructive reviews of this paper. We also gratefully acknowledge Dr. Bai Junhong for valuable help with the sampling, Zhang Yuxia and Xia Weilan for samples analyses, and The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40471136) and the Discovery Research Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-YW-309) for financial support. Key Laboratory of Ecological Recovering and Ecosystem Management of Jilin Province (Project number: DS2004–01) partly funded this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wei-shan Road 3195, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Guo-Ping Wang

  2. Center for Agricultural Resources, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huai-zhong Road 286, Shijiazhuang, 050021, People’s Republic of China

    Zheng-Li Zhai

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  1. Guo-Ping Wang
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  2. Zheng-Li Zhai
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Correspondence to Guo-Ping Wang.

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Wang, GP., Zhai, ZL. Geochemical data as indicators of environmental change and human impact in sediments derived from downstream marshes of an ephemeral river, Northeast China. Environ Geol 53, 1261–1270 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0714-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0714-x

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