Heavy Metals in Suspended Particulate Matter of the Zhujiang River, Southwest China: Contents, Sources, and Health Risks

Jie Zeng, Guilin Han, Qixin Wu and Yang Tang
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Jie Zeng: Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Guilin Han: Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Qixin Wu: Key Laboratory of Karst Environment and Geohazard, Ministry of Land and Resources, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Yang Tang: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: To investigate the abundance, water/particle interaction behavior, sources, and potential risk of heavy metals in suspended particulate matter (SPM), a total of 22 SPM samples were collected from the Zhujiang River, Southwest China, in July 2014 (wet season). Nine heavy metal(loid)s (V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb) in SPM were detected. The results show that the selected heavy metal(loid)s in SPM appear in the following order: Mn (982.4 mg kg −1 ) > Zn (186.8 mg kg −1 ) > V (143.6 mg kg −1 ) > Cr (129.1 mg kg −1 ) > As (116.8 mg kg −1 ) > Cu (44.1 mg kg −1 ) > Ni (39.9 mg kg −1 ) > Pb (38.1 mg kg −1 ) > Cd (3.8 mg kg −1 ). Furthermore, both the enrichment factor (EF) and geo-accumulation index (I geo ) indicate that SPM is extremely enriched in metal(loid)s of Cd and As, while SPM is slightly enriched, or not enriched, in other heavy metals. According to the toxic risk index (TRI) and hazard index (HI), arsenic accounts for the majority of the SPM toxicity (TRI = 8, 48.3 ± 10.4%) and causes the primary health risk (HI > 1), and the potential risks of V and Cr are also not negligible. By applying a correlation matrix and principal component analysis (PCA), three principal components (PC) were identified and accounted for 79.19% of the total variance. PC 1 (V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, and Pb) is controlled by natural origins. PC 2 (As and Cd) is mainly contributed by anthropogenic origins in the basin. PC 3 (Zn) can be attributed to mixed sources of natural and anthropogenic origins. Moreover, all the partition coefficients (lgK d ) exceeded 2.9 (arithmetical mean value order: Mn > Pb > Cd > V ≈ Cu > Cr ≈ Ni), indicating the powerful adsorptive ability of SPM for these heavy metal(loid)s during water/particle interaction.

Keywords: heavy metals; suspended particulate matter; enrichment; health risk; Pearl River; Southwest China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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