title: Distributions, sources and ecological risk assessment of arsenic and mercury in the surface sediments of the southwestern coastal Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea.
abstract: The spatial distributions of As and Hg in riverine and marine surface sediments of the coastal southwestern Laizhou Bay were obtained, and multiple indices and guidelines were applied to assess their contamination and ecological risks. The As concentrations in riverine sediments were close to those in marine sediments, and on the whole the dominant proportion of As was identified to be from natural sources. The Hg concentrations in riverine sediments were much higher than those in marine sediments, so river transportation was likely the main way of Hg into the southwestern Laizhou Bay. In respect of As, the sediment quality was fine according to the risk assessment methods used; in contrast, Hg presented an extremely contaminated status with a very high ecological risk in some riverine sediments, while most of the marine sediments were relatively much less polluted by Hg and under a lower ecological risk from it.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, Shandong 264003, China; College of City and Architecture Engineering, Zaozhuang University, Zaozhuang, Shandong 277160, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, Shandong 264003, China. Electronic address: xlgao@yic.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xuelu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D061006:Bays; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Coastal environment; Ecological risk; Heavy metal; Laizhou Bay; Sediment quality