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Heavy metals in surface sediments of the shallow lakes in eastern China: their relations with environmental factors and anthropogenic activities

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Abstract

The aquatic environment is affected by heavy metal pollution. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that environmental factors and anthropogenic activities influence the distributions and the risks posed by heavy metals in surface sediments in shallow lakes in eastern China, which is an area affected by rapid urbanization, industrialization, and population growth. Total Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn concentrations in sediment samples were determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The I geo showed that sediments in the lakes were moderately polluted with Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn, and the EF method showed that Cd and Se were significantly enriched in lakes. The heavy metals were found to pose moderate risks in most of the lakes, except for Gaoyou Lake, Honghu Lake, Poyang Lake, and Weishan Lake. The RI method indicated that very high risks were posed in Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake. Cd was found to pose much higher levels of risk than the other metals. Significant correlations were found between the heavy metal concentrations and the total carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur concentrations. The gross domestic product represented anthropogenic activities well. The gross domestic product of an area and the gross domestic products of primary and secondary industries in an area all had significant relationships with the concentrations of Cu and Pb, indicating that anthropogenic activities have different impacts on pollution with different heavy metals. The gross domestic product index was found to be a driving force behind the pollution of lakes with heavy metals.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 21507146) and special funds from the State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences) (15Z01ESPCR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Science, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100085, China

    Wenqiang Zhang, Xin Jin, Zhenzhen Di, Xiaolei Zhu & Baoqing Shan

Authors
  1. Wenqiang Zhang
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  2. Xin Jin
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  3. Zhenzhen Di
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  4. Xiaolei Zhu
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  5. Baoqing Shan
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Correspondence to Baoqing Shan.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Zhang, W., Jin, X., Di, Z. et al. Heavy metals in surface sediments of the shallow lakes in eastern China: their relations with environmental factors and anthropogenic activities. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 25364–25373 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7643-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7643-8

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