Identification and apportionment of hazardous elements in the sediments in the Yangtze River estuary.
In this study, positive matrix factorization (PMF) and principal components analysis (PCA) were combined to identify and apportion pollution-based sources of hazardous elements in the surface sediments in the Yangtze River estuary (YRE). Source identification analysis indicated that PC1, including Al, Fe, Mn, Cr, Ni, As, Cu, and Zn, can be defined as a sewage component; PC2, including Pb and Sb, can be considered as an atmospheric deposition component; and PC3, containing Cd and Hg, can be considered as an agricultural nonpoint component. To better identify the sources and quantitatively apportion the concentrations to their sources, eight sources were identified with PMF: agricultural/industrial sewage mixed (18.6 %), mining wastewater (15.9 %), agricultural fertilizer (14.5 %), atmospheric deposition (12.8 %), agricultural nonpoint (10.6 %), industrial wastewater (9.8 %), marine activity (9.0 %), and nickel plating industry (8.8 %). Overall, the hazardous element content seems to be more connected to anthropogenic activity instead of natural sources. The PCA results laid the foundation for the PMF analysis by providing a general classification of sources. PMF resolves more factors with a higher explained variance than PCA; PMF provided both the internal analysis and the quantitative analysis. The combination of the two methods can provide more reasonable and reliable results.
State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
Jiawei
J
Wang
State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China. liurm@bnu.edu.cn.
Ruimin
R
Liu
State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
Haotian
H
Wang
State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
Wenwen
W
Yu
State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
Fei
F
Xu
State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
Zhenyao
Z
Shen
D000383:Agriculture; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Hazardous element; Positive matrix factorization; Principle component analysis; Source apportionment; Source identification