title: The distribution, enrichment and source of potential harmful elements in surface sediments of Bohai Bay, North China.
abstract: A geochemical study of Bohai Bay surface sediments was carried out to analyze the potential harmful element (PHE: Ge, Mo, In, Sn, Sb, Te, Tl, Bi and V) concentrations, transportation and deposition, enrichment factors and sources. Germanium, Mo, In, Sn, Sb, Te, Tl, Bi and V concentrations in the surface sediments were: 1.43-1.71, 0.52-1.43, 0.04-0.12, 2.77-4.14, 1.14-2.29, 0.027-0.085, 0.506-0.770, 0.27-0.63 and 70.35-115.90 μg/g, respectively. The distributions of total PHE concentrations, together with sequential extraction analyses, showed that the PHEs were mainly due to natural inputs from the continental weathering delivered to the bay by rivers and atmospheric transportation and deposition. However, high Mo, Sb, Te, Bi and V occurred in non-residual fractions, suggesting some anthropogenic inputs in addition to the natural inputs. Besides sources, the distributions of PHEs were influenced by the coupling of physical, chemical and biological processes. Enrichment factor (EF) was computed for each site for each element in order to assess the polluting elements and the degree of pollution at each site. Results revealed that the EFs were generally lower than 1.0, particularly for Ge, Mo, In, Sn, Tl and V; however, the EFs were higher (>1.5), particularly for Sb, Te and Bi, revealing moderate contamination.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, PR China.
authors.forename: Liqin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Jinming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Yayan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xuegang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D045483:Rivers
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances; D019216:Metals, Heavy