Quantifying Grain-Size Variability of Metal Pollutants in Road-Deposited Sediments Using the Coefficient of Variation

Hongtao Zhao, Xiaoxue Wang and Xuyong Li
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Hongtao Zhao: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Xiaoxue Wang: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Xuyong Li: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-10

Abstract: Particle grain size is an important indicator for the variability in physical characteristics and pollutants composition of road-deposited sediments (RDS). Quantitative assessment of the grain-size variability in RDS amount, metal concentration, metal load and GSF Load is essential to elimination of the uncertainty it causes in estimation of RDS emission load and formulation of control strategies. In this study, grain-size variability was explored and quantified using the coefficient of variation ( Cv ) of the particle size compositions, metal concentrations, metal loads, and GSF Load values in RDS. Several trends in grain-size variability of RDS were identified: (i) the medium class (105–450 µm) variability in terms of particle size composition, metal loads, and GSF Load values in RDS was smaller than the fine (<105 µm) and coarse (450–2000 µm) class; (ii) The grain-size variability in terms of metal concentrations increased as the particle size increased, while the metal concentrations decreased; (iii) When compared to the Lorenz coefficient ( Lc ), the Cv was similarly effective at describing the grain-size variability, whereas it is simpler to calculate because it did not require the data to be pre-processed. The results of this study will facilitate identification of the uncertainty in modelling RDS caused by grain-size class variability.

Keywords: road-deposited sediment; grain size variability; coefficient of variation; metal pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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