Spatial Variation and Source of Dissolved Heavy Metals in the Lancangjiang River, Southwest China

Bin Liang, Guilin Han, Jie Zeng, Rui Qu, Man Liu and Jinke Liu
Additional contact information
Bin Liang: 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
Jie Zeng: Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Rui Qu: Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Man Liu: Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Jinke Liu: Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Dissolved heavy metals are not only the essential micronutrients, but also the toxic elements for human bodies. To investigate the heavy metal sources and assess the water quality of the Lancangjiang River, dissolved Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Pb were detected in this study. The results show that dissolved Ni and Mo, Cr and Pb, and Cu and Zn were similarly distributed within the drainage basin. The correlation analysis exhibited that dissolved Ni and Mo had correlation with water parameter, and dissolved Cu was weakly correlated with Ni, indicating that they might be affected by natural processes. The principal component analysis explained 68.342% of the total variance for three principal components, of which dissolved Ni, Mo, and Cu were controlled by natural inputs; dissolved Cu and Cr were affected by anthropogenic activities; and dissolved Zn was influenced by agricultural activities in the downstream. The water quality showed that the water in upstream was worse than in midstream and downstream, and the whole drainage basin had water of excellent quality. Water within the drainage basin poses no risks to human bodies via daily diets and dermal routes. Dissolved Zn, Cu, and Mo occupied the major proportion of heavy metals transporting into the Mekong River. The agricultural inputs of dissolved Zn might pose potential risks to the Mekong River.

Keywords: natural processes; anthropogenic inputs; agricultural activities; water quality; Lancangjiang River (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/732/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/732/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:3:p:732-:d:312311

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().