title: Spatial variation, environmental risk and biological hazard assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments of the Yangtze River estuary.
abstract: 30 samples of eight heavy metals were collected in February 2011 within Yangtze River estuary (YRE). The mean concentrations met the primary standard criteria based on Marine Sediments Quality of China. The spatial distribution showed that a gradient concentration decreased gradually from inner-estuary to river mouth. Anthropogenic inputs might be the main contributor, and fine grained sediments might also aggravate the heavy metal contamination. The assessment results indicated that the YRE was in low risk of contamination caused by every single heavy metal. However, it was in considerable degree of contamination considering combination of all the heavy metals. The toxicities of heavy metals might be elevated when heavy metals were in combination. Arsenic should be of primary concern due to its higher assessment values and the potential of adverse biological effects. And the concentration of As in the YRE had a trend to increase because of anthropogenic activities nearby.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Haotian
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Jiawei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: liurm@bnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ruimin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Zhenyao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D012306:Risk; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Biological hazard assessment; Environmental risk assessment; Heavy metal contamination; Spatial distribution; Yangtze River estuary