title: Heavy metals in surface sediments of the Jialu River, China: their relations to environmental factors.
abstract: This work investigated heavy metal pollution in surface sediments of the Jialu River, China. Sediment samples were collected at 19 sites along the river in connection with field surveys and the total concentrations were determined using atomic fluorescence spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. Sediment samples with higher metal concentrations were collected from the upper reach of the river, while sediments in the middle and lower reaches had relatively lower metal concentrations. Multivariate techniques including Pearson correlation, hierarchical cluster and principal components analysis were used to evaluate the metal sources. The ecological risk associated with the heavy metals in sediments was rated as moderate based on the assessments using methods of consensus-based Sediment Quality Guidelines, Potential Ecological Risk Index and Geo-accumulation Index. The relations between heavy metals and various environmental factors (i.e., chemical properties of sediments, water quality indices and aquatic organism indices) were also studied. Nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations in sediments showed a co-release behavior with heavy metals. Ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, orthophosphate, total phosphate and permanganate index in water were found to be related to metal sedimentation. Heavy metals in sediments posed a potential impact on the benthos community.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; Environmental Engineering Program, Department of Civil Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, United States.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Changpo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, United States.
authors.forename: Yupeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China. Electronic address: liuchunshengidid@126.com.
authors.forename: Chunsheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of General & Inorganic Chemical Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.
authors.forename: George Z
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Kyzas
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Environmental Engineering Program, Department of Civil Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, United States.
authors.forename: Dongye
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Shuqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China. Electronic address: zhuhl@nju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hailiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D018533:Biomass; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D009566:Nitrates / Q000032:analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D010944:Plants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D011156:Population Density; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers; D014507:Urbanization; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D009566:Nitrates; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010758:Phosphorus; D001151:Arsenic; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Benthos; Canonical correspondence analysis; Environmental factors; Heavy metals; Sediments