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Heavy metals in soils and sediments from Dongting Lake in China: occurrence, sources, and spatial distribution by multivariate statistical analysis

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Abstract

Heavy metal contamination in soils/sediments and its impact on human health and ecological environment have aroused wide concerns. Our study investigated 30 samples of soils and sediments around Dongting Lake to analyze the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the samples and to distinguish the natural and anthropogenic sources. Also, the relationship between heavy metals and the physicochemical properties of samples was studied by multivariate statistical analysis. Concentration of Cd at most sampling sites were more than five times that of national environmental quality standard for soil in China (GB 15618-1995), and Pb and Zn levels exceeded one to two times. Moreover, Cr in the soil was higher than the national environmental quality standards for one to two times while in sediment was lower than the national standard. The investigation revealed that the accumulations of As, Cd, Mn, and Pb in the soils, and sediments were affected apparently by anthropogenic activities; however, Cr, Fe, and Ni levels were impacted by parent materials. Human activities around Dongting Lake mainly consisted of industrial activities, mining and smelting, sewage discharges, fossil fuel combustion, and agricultural chemicals. The spatial distribution of heavy metal in soil followed the rule of geographical gradient, whereas in sediments, it was significantly affected by the river basins and human activities. The result of principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrated that heavy metals in soils were associated with pH and total phosphorus (TP), while in sediments, As, Cr, Fe, and Ni were closely associated with cation exchange capacity (CEC) and pH, where Pb, Zn, and Cd were associated with total nitrogen (TN), TP, total carbon (TC), moisture content (MC), soil organic matter (SOM), and ignition lost (IL). Our research provides comprehensive approaches to better understand the potential sources and the fate of contaminants in lakeshore soils and sediments.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51509087) and the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Hunan (No. 2015JJ3047).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, People’s Republic of China

    Yaxin Zhang, Ye Tian, Maocai Shen & Guangming Zeng

  2. Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha, 410082, People’s Republic of China

    Yaxin Zhang, Ye Tian, Maocai Shen & Guangming Zeng

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  1. Yaxin Zhang
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  2. Ye Tian
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  4. Guangming Zeng
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Correspondence to Yaxin Zhang.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Zhang, Y., Tian, Y., Shen, M. et al. Heavy metals in soils and sediments from Dongting Lake in China: occurrence, sources, and spatial distribution by multivariate statistical analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 13687–13696 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1590-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1590-5

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