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The concentration and chemical speciation of arsenic in the Nanpan River, the upstream of the Pearl River, China

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Abstract

The concentration and chemical speciation of arsenic (As) in different environmental matrixes (water, sediment, agricultural soils, and non-agricultural soils) were investigated in the Nanpan River area, the upstream of Pearl River, China. The results did not show any obvious transport of As along the flow direction of the river (from upstream to downstream). Total As concentrations in sediment were significantly different from those in agricultural soil. According to the comparison to quality standards, the As in sediments of the studied area have potential ecological risks and a minority of the sampling sites of agricultural soils in the studied area were polluted with As. As speciations were analyzed using sequential extraction and the percentage of non-residual fraction in sediment predominated over residual fraction. We thus believe that As in the studied area was with low mobility and bioavailability in sediment, agricultural soils, and non-agricultural soils. However, the bioavailability and mobility of As in sediment were higher than in both agricultural and non-agricultural soils, and thus, special attention should be paid for the risk assessment of As in the river in future studies.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Scientific Foundation of China (41173124, 41303092), the Recruitment Program of Highly-Qualified Scholars in Yunnan (2010CI109), the Educational Commission of Yunnan Province of China (2013Y119), and the Key Scientific Research Foundation of Southwest Forestry University (111417).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental Science & Engineering, Kunming University of Science & Technology, Kunming, 650500, China

    Silin Yang, Dequn Zhou, Rong Wei & Bo Pan

  2. Faculty of Environmental Science & Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China

    Silin Yang

  3. Faculty of Life Science, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China

    Ning Zhao & Bin Yang

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  1. Silin Yang
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  2. Ning Zhao
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  3. Dequn Zhou
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  4. Rong Wei
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  5. Bin Yang
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  6. Bo Pan
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Correspondence to Bo Pan.

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Responsible editor: Céline Guéguen

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Yang, S., Zhao, N., Zhou, D. et al. The concentration and chemical speciation of arsenic in the Nanpan River, the upstream of the Pearl River, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 6451–6458 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5801-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5801-z

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