title: Source apportionment of trace metals in river sediments: A comparison of three methods.
abstract: Increasing trace metal pollution in river sediment poses a significant threat to watershed ecosystem health. Identifying potential sources of sediment metals and apportioning their contributions are of key importance for proposing prevention and control strategies of river pollution. In this study, three advanced multivariate receptor models, factor analysis with nonnegative constraints (FA-NNC), positive matrix factorization (PMF), and multivariate curve resolution weighted-alternating least-squares (MCR-WALS), were comparatively employed for source apportionment of trace metals in river sediments and applied to the Le'an River, a main tributary of Poyang Lake which is the largest freshwater lake in China. The pollution assessment with contamination factor and geoaccumulation index suggested that the river sediments in Le'an River were contaminated severely by trace metals due to human activities. With the three apportionment tools, similar source profiles of trace metals in sediments were extracted. Especially, the MCR-WALS and PMF models produced essentially the same results. Comparatively speaking, the weighted schemes might give better solutions than the unweighted FA-NNC because the uncertainty information of environmental data was considered by PMF and MCR-WALS. Anthropogenic sources were apportioned as the most important pollution sources influencing the sediment metals in Le'an River with contributions of about 90%. Among them, copper tailings occupied the largest contribution (38.4-42.2%), followed by mining wastewater (29.0-33.5%), and agricultural activities (18.2-18.7%). To protect the ecosystem of Le'an River and Poyang Lake, special attention should be paid to the discharges of mining wastewater and the leachates of copper tailing ponds in that region.
authors.affiliation: Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, No 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China. Electronic address: superbg@163.com.
authors.forename: Haiyang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, No 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Yanguo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, No 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, No 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, No 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Jinsheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002681:China; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D060106:Lakes; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D008906:Mining; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D003300:Copper
keywords: Factor analysis with nonnegative constraint; Multivariate curve resolution weighted-alternating least-squares; Positive matrix factorization; Source apportionment; Trace metals