Journal of Environmental Biology

Investigation and assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments

of Ganjiang River, China

Yong Ji¹*, Jie Zhang^1,2, Xueping Huang^1,2, Chengrong Bai¹ and Xing Chen¹

¹School of Hydraulic and Ecological Engineering, Nanchang Institute of Technology, 330099 Nanchang, China

²Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Environment and Resource Utilization Ministry of Eduction, Nanchang University, 330029 Nanchang, China

*Corresponding Author E-mail: jiyong@nit.edu.cn

Publication Data

Paper received:

24 April 2014

Revised received:

30 July 2014

Accepted:

18 August 2014

Abstract

Surface sediment samples were collected from four sampling areas (Ganzhou nonferrous metal processing zones (GZ), Jian city sewage discharge areas (JA), Non city areas (NC) and Zhangshu middle-city areas (ZS)) to investigate the degree and chemical partitioning of heavy metals. Samples were analyzed for Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, As and Ni using sequential extraction scheme. Based on geo-statistics analyses, the results showed maximum values of Cu (131.84 μg g^-1), Zn (290.68 μg g^-1), Cd (99.57 μg g^-1), Cr (53.75 μg g^-1), As (25.58 μg g^-1) and Ni (64.75 μg g^-1) were in sediments dated at GZ areas, while ZS areas had the highest concentrations of Pb (128.51 μg g^-1). Almost all metal values were higher than their corresponding background values in the following order: Ni

Key words

Ganjiang River, heavy metals, partitioning, risk assessment, sediments

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