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A 59-year sedimentary record of metal pollution in the sediment core from the Huaihe River, Huainan, Anhui, China

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Abstract

An approximately 59-year (1955–2014) sedimentary record of metal elements (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Mn, and Fe) in a sediment core, collected from the Huaihe River, Huainan City, Anhui Province, China, was reconstructed by using 210Pb geochronology. Copper, Zn, Ni, Co, and Mn evaluated by enrichment factor (EF) indicated minor contamination due to water pollution accidents of the Huaihe River that occurred in 1990s and 2004. Lead presented the most severe pollution among the metals studied, especially during 1957–1974. The use of leaded petrol and atmospheric deposition of coal combustion flue gases could have contributed to Pb contamination. In spite of the general good quality (mean sediment pollution index (SPI) 35.69) of the sediment core evaluated by SPI based on the principal component analysis, worse sediment qualities in the upper section (<6 cm, 2004) were still observed, suggesting intensive human activities causing the increasing concentrations of metals in recent decades.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2014CB238903), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41373110), and Science Program of Department of Land and Resources of Anhui Province (2015-K-13). We acknowledge editors and reviewers for polishing the language of the paper and for in-depth discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Jie Wang, Guijian Liu, Jiamei Zhang & Houqi Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710075, China

    Jie Wang & Guijian Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Jie Wang & Paul K. S. Lam

Authors
  1. Jie Wang
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  2. Guijian Liu
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  3. Jiamei Zhang
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  4. Houqi Liu
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  5. Paul K. S. Lam
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Correspondence to Guijian Liu.

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Responsible editor: Céline Guéguen

Capsule abstract

Anthropogenic effects of Pb and history record of water pollution accidents were archived in the 59-year sediment core from the Huaihe River.

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Wang, J., Liu, G., Zhang, J. et al. A 59-year sedimentary record of metal pollution in the sediment core from the Huaihe River, Huainan, Anhui, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 23533–23545 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7587-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7587-z

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