title: Spatial distribution and historical trends of heavy metals in the sediments of petroleum producing regions of the Beibu Gulf, China.
abstract: The concentrations of As, Sb, Hg, Pb, Cd, and Ba in the surface and core sediments of the oil and gas producing region of the Beibu Gulf were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry (AFS), and the spatial distribution and historical trends of these elements are discussed. The results show that the concentrations of these elements are highest near the platforms. The results of Enrichment Factor (EF) and Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) also reveal significantly higher enrichment around the platforms, which imply that the offshore petroleum production was the cause of the unusual distribution and severe enrichment of these elements in the study area. The environment around the platforms was highly laden with toxic elements, thereby representing a very high ecological risk to the environment of the study area.
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Geoscience, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China.
authors.forename: Jichao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen 361005, China. Electronic address: wangweiguo@tio.org.cn.
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Geoscience, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China; Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen 361005, China.
authors.forename: Mengwei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Geoscience, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Geoscience, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China; Dept. of Marine Science & Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Olusegun A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Dada
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Geoscience, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D010316:Particle Size; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013053:Spectrophotometry
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D010578:Petroleum
keywords: Beibu Gulf; Environmental quality assessment; Heavy metal; Oil and gas platform