title: Assessment of heavy metal pollution in wetland soils from the young and old reclaimed regions in the Pearl River Estuary, South China.
abstract: Soils were sampled in three types of wetlands from the young (A) and old (B) reclaimed regions of the Pearl River Estuary. They were analyzed for total concentrations of heavy metals to investigate their distributions and pollution levels in both regions. Results showed that most heavy metals in ditch and riparian wetlands did not significantly differ from those in reclaimed wetlands in A region, while significantly lower for Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in reclaimed wetlands in B region, suggesting higher effects of long-term reclamation. Iron, Cr and Cu were identified as metal pollutants of primary concern and had higher contributions to the total toxic units compared to other metals. Almost all metals exceeded their lowest effect levels and Fe and Cr even exceeded the severe effect levels. Multivariate analysis shows that Fe and Mn are controlled by parent rocks and other metals mainly originate from anthropogenic source.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Stimulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China. junhongbai@163.com
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Baoshan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Kejiang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Qinggai
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xinhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Haifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Laibin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical