Heavy metal pollution in tidal zones of Bohai Bay using the dated sediment cores

Article type: Research Article

Authors: QIN, Yan-wen | MENG, Wei | ZHENG, Bing-hui | SU, Yi-bin

Affiliations: River and Coastal Environment Research Center, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Three sediment cores were collected in November 2003 from Dagu estuary to Qikou estuary. The main polluted heavy metals in the sediment of tidal zones for the Bohai Bay have been found by analyzing the relationship among the contents of heavy metals, the contents of geochemical elements (Fe, Al and Mn) and the size of grain. The dominating contaminative elements in tidal sediments of Bohai Bay are Pb, Zn and Cd. Their contents are higher than the corresponding upper limit of environmental background values and they have very faint correlation with the corresponding contents of geochemical elements and the size of grain, indicating the anthropogenic enrichment. Especially, the preliminary study on the pollution sources and the history of heavy metals in the Dagu estuary has been done using the dated results. The contamination by Zn and Cd also started in the middle 1950s, while the contamination by Pb appeared in the early 1940s. The pollution by Zn and Cd mainly originate from sewage discharge, while the pollution by Pb has many sources, like atmosphere deposition and industrial discharge.

Keywords: Bohai Bay, tidal zone, the dated sediment core, heavy metal, pollution

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 610-615, 2006