title: Spatial and seasonal characteristics of dissolved heavy metals in the east and west Guangdong coastal waters, South China.
abstract: Heavy metal concentrations and physicochemical parameters in seawater were measured in Guangdong coastal waters, South China. Results showed that the concentrations and distribution of heavy metals varied spatially and seasonally. Generally, heavy metal concentrations in the east regions were higher than in the west. Concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cd and Cr in wet seasons were generally higher than in dry seasons owing to the seasonal differences of the river discharge, rainfall and seawater intrusion. Principal component (PC) analysis showed that PC1, PC2 and PC3 in the east were correlated to Pb+Cr+Zn+Cd, As+Cd and Cu, respectively, and they were correlated to Pb+Cr, Zn+Cu+Cd and As+Cu, respectively, in the west. That was maybe due to the differences of local heavy metal sources. The anthropogenic activities contributed more to the main sources of heavy metals, and contamination factors indicated that Zn and Pb pollution was serious in study area.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
authors.forename: JingPing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. Electronic address: xphuang@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D012621:Seasons; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Dissolved heavy metal; Sources; South China; Spatial and seasonal variation