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Seasonal variation of heavy metals in suspended sediments downstream the Three Gorges Dam in the Yangtze River

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Abstract

High sediment flux in large rivers provide sufficient dilution to the heavy metals’ concentration. However, sediment starvation caused by hydrological engineering in recent decades has been reported worldwide. Thus, a study is necessary on the influences of recent declining sediment flux on heavy metal pollution change in the suspended sediments. In this study, heavy metal concentrations and speciation (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, and Cr) in suspended sediments were investigated downstream the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) during dry and flood seasons. Substantial changes of Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cu along the river channel were found which were constrained by the dilution efficiency of suspended sediment during the dry season. High proportion of labile fraction revealed anthropogenic sources of heavy metal. Moreover, the historical trend of metal content illustrated TGD construction together with anthropogenic influx both contribute to the increasing environmental risk in the Yangtze River basin.

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Data availability

All data used during the study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported the China National key research and development program (grant no. 2018YFD0900901, 2016YFA0600904), and the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41271519), and the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Yutong Guo & Bing Deng

  2. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Zhuhai, 519080, China

    Bing Deng

Authors
  1. Yutong Guo
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  2. Bing Deng
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Correspondence to Bing Deng.

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Appendix

Appendix

Fig. 7
figure 7

Spatial and temporal distribution of Ga and Ti concentration in the Yangtze River. The Al-normalization value was present by the dotted line. The sampling locations are the same as those in Fig. 1. Red solid line: metal concentrations in the dry season. Green solid line: metal concentrations in the flood season. Red dashed line: concentrations normalized to Al in the dry season. Green dashed line: concentrations normalized to Al in the flood season

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Guo, Y., Deng, B. Seasonal variation of heavy metals in suspended sediments downstream the Three Gorges Dam in the Yangtze River. Environ Monit Assess 194, 660 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10337-9

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