Spatial Distribution, Source Identification, and Potential Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal in Surface Sediments from River-Reservoir System in the Feiyun River Basin, China

Shengnan Zhu, Zengchuan Dong (), Bohua Yang, Guangen Zeng, Yupeng Liu, Yuejiao Zhou, Jinyu Meng, Shujun Wu, Yiqing Shao, Junfei Yang and Xiao Guo
Additional contact information
Shengnan Zhu: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Zengchuan Dong: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Bohua Yang: Wenzhou Hydrology Management Center, Wenzhou 325000, China
Guangen Zeng: Wenzhou Hydrology Management Center, Wenzhou 325000, China
Yupeng Liu: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Yuejiao Zhou: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Jinyu Meng: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Shujun Wu: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Yiqing Shao: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Junfei Yang: College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Xiao Guo: Changzhou Tianning District Agriculture and Rural Bureau, Changzhou 213000, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-17

Abstract: To investigate the pollution characteristics of the surface sediments of the river–reservoir system in the Feiyun River basin, a sediment heavy metal survey was conducted for the first time in the Feiyun River basin. Surface sediments from 21 sampling sites in the Feiyun River basin were collected, and the concentrations and spatial distribution characteristics of 15 heavy metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, Mn, V, Co, Mo, Sb, W, Fe, and Se) were analyzed. Three heavy metal ecological risk assessment methods were used to evaluate the potential risks of heavy metals in sediments, and the sources of major heavy metals were traced by correlation analysis and principal component analysis. The results show that (1) the average concentration of heavy metals (As) (212.64 mg/kg) and (Sb) (4.89 mg/kg) in Feiyun River Basin is 33.3 and 6.89 times the background value of Zhejiang Province; the overall spatial distribution of heavy metals is: the mainstream of Feiyun River > Zhaoshandu Reservoir > Shanxi Reservoir, thereby, the pollution is relatively significant; (2) by processing the geo-accumulation index and enrichment index methods, As and Sb are classified as ‘severely polluted’, ‘moderately severely polluted’ and ‘severely polluted’, ‘very severe polluted’ respectively; (3) the potential ecological index evaluates the surface sediments in the Feiyun River Basin as a very high risk level, the main environmental risk factors are As, Sb, Cd and Mo; (4) the principal component analysis results show that the heavy metals in the sediments of the Feiyun River Basin may be mainly affected by human activities such as sewage from domestic and agricultural activities, mining and smelting, and the others are affected by natural factors.

Keywords: heavy metals; surface sediments; potential ecological risk; Feiyun River Basin; river–reservoir system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14944/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14944/ (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:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14944-:d:971532

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 ().