Reconstruction, assessment, and calibration of potential toxic elements (PTEs) in a 3500-year-long sedimentary record off the northern coast of Shandong Peninsula, China

Zhongkang Yang; Honglei Sui; Youai Zhang; Yanqiang Li; Liguang Sun; Jun Wang

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120075

Reconstruction, assessment, and calibration of potential toxic elements (PTEs) in a 3500-year-long sedimentary record off the northern coast of Shandong Peninsula, China

Environ Pollut. 2022 Nov 1:312:120075. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120075. Epub 2022 Aug 30.

Authors

Zhongkang Yang¹, Honglei Sui², Youai Zhang², Yanqiang Li², Liguang Sun³, Jun Wang²

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environment in Universities of Shandong, College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271000, China; Institute of Polar Environment & Anhui Key Laboratory of Polar Environment and Global Change, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China. Electronic address: zkyang@sdau.edu.cn.
² National Engineering Laboratory for Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environment in Universities of Shandong, College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271000, China.
³ Institute of Polar Environment & Anhui Key Laboratory of Polar Environment and Global Change, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.

PMID: 36055455
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120075

Abstract

The marine environment of coastal Shandong Peninsula has been significantly influenced by anthropogenic activities due to the rapid industrialization and economic development in the past decades. However, the sedimentary records of PTEs in the North Yellow Sea have rarely been reported. In this study, a 209-cm-long sediment core was collected off the northern coast of Shandong Peninsula, analyzed for grain size and elemental compositions, and assessed using EF, I_geo and several numerical Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs). The EF and I_geo results suggested that sediment profile could be slightly to moderately polluted with As and Sb, while ecological risk assessment using SQGs showed that As, Cr, Sb and Ni in the sediment profile may have a moderate incidence of toxicity. Our results highlighted the nonnegligible ecological risk of Sb in sediments of North Yellow Sea, and great importance should be attached to the fact that many PTEs may also pose a potential ecological risk to the aquatic organisms, even though their concentrations meet the standards of the Marine Sediments Quality (MSQ). Moreover, the reconstructed PTEs record showed a dramatic increase over the past 250 years, which could be related to the intense anthropogenic activities since the Industrial Revolution. The multivariate statistical analysis results indicated that Co, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn may be mainly related to the natural origin, while As and Sb could be influenced by both natural weathering sources and anthropogenic activities. This study provides more insights into the historical record of PTEs in the North Yellow Sea, and lays foundation for future comparison of PTEs sedimentary records.

Keywords: Environmental assessment; North yellow sea; Potential toxic elements; Reconstruction; Sedimentary records.

MeSH terms

Calibration
China
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Geologic Sediments / analysis
Lead / analysis
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Risk Assessment
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / toxicity

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Lead