Lake Qinghai is the largest closed saltwater lake in China. In recent years, because of the rapid development of industry, agriculture, and tourism, the lake has been increasingly affected by human activities, which has attracted the attention of many scholars. In order to understand the distribution of heavy metals in the surface sediments of Lake Qinghai, the contents of Zn, Cu, Pb, Co, Ni, As, Cd, and Cr were investigated, the metal fractions were extracted, and the sources, as well as potential ecological risks, were analyzed. The results showed that:① the ω(As) (13.21 mg·kg-1) and ω(Cd) (0.21 mg·kg-1) in the surface sediments of Lake Qinghai were 1.13 and 1.53 times higher than the environmental background values, respectively, and the other heavy metal contents were all lower than the environmental background values. There were similar spatial distribution characteristics of analyzed metals except for As, with higher values measured in the northwestern area of the lake and the 151 Terminal. ② Except for Cd, the analyzed heavy metals mainly existed in the form of the residual state; by contrast, Cd mainly existed in the form of the bioavailable state, which has high potential toxicity to aquatic organisms. ③ Combined with the results of the correlation and principal component analysis, the metals including Zn, Cu, Pb, Co, Ni, Cd, and Cr were thought to mainly come from the natural environment, whereas the source of As was related to human activities, such as agricultural production. ④ According to potential risk analyses, the average of the metal potential ecological risk factors was 76.57, which indicated a slight ecological hazard level. However, it should be noted that the potential ecological hazard level and release risk of Cd at each site were higher than those of the other metals, especially in the regions nearing the estuary of Heima River, Lake Gahai, and the sand island, which showed higher levels of enrichment and potential release risk. Therefore, further attention should be paid to the potential impacts of Cd in sediments of these regions on the water environment and ecosystem.
Keywords: Lake Qinghai; distribution characteristic; fraction analysis; risk assessment code; source identification.