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One hundred-year sedimentary record of heavy metal accumulation in the southeastern Liaodong Bay of China

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Abstract

Integrated analyses of grain size, 210Pb stable isotope, and heavy metals were performed to characterize the sedimentary core LDC30 collected from the southeastern Liaodong Bay of China and investigate the 100-year history of heavy metal accumulation. The aluminum-normalized enrichment factors and the excess metal fluxes (MFxs) indicated that the metal accumulation in the southeastern Liaodong Bay occurred in three stages: a pre-industrial stage (prior to 1960s) with natural accumulation, an initial industrial stage (1960–1990) with slowly elevated accumulation, and an industrialized stage (post-1990s) with accelerated accumulation. A moderate enrichment of Cd and Pb (up to 4.1- and 2.6-fold over the baseline, respectively) and a slight enrichment of Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn (up to 1.3-fold) were measured in the recent sediments. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn were from the natural origin, whereas Cd and Pb from the anthropogenic origin. The MFxs of Cd and Pb showed a drastically increasing trend since 1990s, which could result from the intensive application of fertilizers and combustion of fossil fuels.

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Acknowledgments

We would appreciate anonymous reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief James W. LaMoreaux for their constructive and valuable comments for improving clarity and quality of this manuscript. Authors acknowledge financial supports for this research by Ministry of Land and Resources (Grant no. 1212011088110), National Key Basic Research Program of China (Grant no. 2013CB429701), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 41206049, 40906033, and 40976036), and Open Foundation of the Key Laboratory of Marine Hydrocarbon Resources and Environmental Geology (Grant no. MRE201231).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Hydrocarbon Resources and Environmental Geology, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, Ministry of Land and Resources, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Jingtao Zhao, Bangqi Hu, Jun Li, Fenglong Bai & Yanguang Dou

  2. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Lincoln University of Missouri, Jefferson City, MO, USA

    John Yang

  3. Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Xuebo Yin

Authors
  1. Jingtao Zhao
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  2. Bangqi Hu
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  3. Jun Li
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  4. John Yang
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  5. Fenglong Bai
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  6. Yanguang Dou
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  7. Xuebo Yin
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Correspondence to Bangqi Hu.

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Zhao, J., Hu, B., Li, J. et al. One hundred-year sedimentary record of heavy metal accumulation in the southeastern Liaodong Bay of China. Environ Earth Sci 71, 1073–1082 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2511-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2511-z

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