The Influence of the Reduction in Clay Sediments in the Level of Metals Bioavailability—An Investigation in Liujiang River Basin after Wet Season

Xiongyi Miao, Jianping Liang, Yupei Hao (), Wanjun Zhang, Yincai Xie and Hucai Zhang ()
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Xiongyi Miao: School of Geography and Environmental Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
Jianping Liang: Guilin Meteorological Bureau of Guangxi, Guilin 541000, China
Yupei Hao: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China
Wanjun Zhang: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China
Yincai Xie: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China
Hucai Zhang: Institute for Ecological Research and Pollution Control of Plateau Lakes, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: The seasonal elevation of metals’ bioavailability can aggravate the threat of metal contamination in the aquatic environment. Nevertheless, their regulations have rarely been studied, particularly the connections between metals’ transformation and environmental variations. Therefore, the catchment area of Liujiang River was taken as an example in this study, their seasonal variations in metals’ bioavailability in sediments, especially during the wet season, was investigated to recover the processes associated with metals’ speciations and multiple environmental factors. The results revealed that the concentration of metals in sediments were high overall in the wet season, but low in the dry season. The significantly reduced ratio of metals in non-residual forms was largely related to the overall reduction in metals in oxidizable and reducible forms after the wet season. However, the elevated BI indexes of most metals suggested their increased bioavailability in the dry season, which should be closely related to their corresponding elevations in carbonate-bound and exchangeable forms after the wet season. The variations in metals’ bioavailability were primarily related to their predominance of exchangeable and carbonate-bound form. The higher correlation coefficients suggested the destabilization of the oxidizable form should be treated as a critical approach to the impact of metals’ bioavailability after the wet season. In view of that, sediments’ coarsening would pose the impacts on the destabilization of exogenous metals in sediments, the reduction in clay sediments should be responsible for the elevation of metals bioavailability after the wet season. Therefore, the monitoring of metals’ bioavailability in sediments should be indispensable to prevent metal contamination from enlarging the scope of their threat to the aquatic environment of the river, especially after the wet season.

Keywords: metals bioavailability; sediments; metals transformation; seasonal variation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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