Distribution Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Mercury in Sediments From Taihu Lake

Hailei Su,Fuhong Sun,Jiwei Yang,Yuan Wei,Di Shi,Yanru Tao

doi:10.3389/fenvs.2021.695470

Hailei Su, Fuhong Sun + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.695470

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Abstract

Persistent pollutants are easily accumulated in sediments, which can cause toxicity to benthos and secondary pollution to water. Mercury (Hg), as one kind of bioaccumulative and persistent pollutant, could cause great harm to water ecology and health, and has been widely concerned. The distribution characteristics and ecological risk of Hg in sediments from Taihu Lake were studied. In addition, the sediment quality criterion (SQC) of Hg was derived using tissue-based toxicity data combined with the phase-equilibrium partitioning (EqP) approach, and the ecological risk level of Hg in Taihu Lake sediment was evaluated. The results showed that Hg was detected in all the 30 sediment samples, and the concentrations of Hg ranged from 9.7 ng/g to 237.0 ng/g, with an average of 76.3 ng/g. The SQC of Hg was calculated to be 108.9 ng/g, and the ecological risk of Hg in the sediments of Taihu Lake is in the middle level, indicating that Hg pollution needs to be paid more attention. The results provide support for environmental management and risk assessment of Hg.

Highlights

Sediment is the habitat of benthos and an important part of the aquatic ecosystem as it is the “sink” and “source” of pollutants
The concentrations of Hg ranged from 9.7 ng/g to
Chen et al (2013) studied the distribution of Hg in surface sediments from different regions of Taihu Lake, and the results showed that the Hg concentrations ranged from 23.0 to 168.0 ng/ g, with an average concentration of 55.0 ng/g

Summary

Introduction

Sediment is the habitat of benthos and an important part of the aquatic ecosystem as it is the “sink” and “source” of pollutants. It is very important to protect them from pollution to maintain a good aquatic ecological environment (Zhu et al, 2009a; Shang et al, 2012). The sediment quality criterion (SQC) is a critical level to protect aquatic life associated with sediment from pollutants. The phaseequilibrium partitioning (EqP) approach and biological effect database method are widely used (Zhu et al, 2009a; MacDonald et al, 2000; Chen et al, 2006a). The research on the SQC in China started later and due to the lack of biological toxicological data and field biological monitoring data, the EqP approach was adopted in several studies in China (Liu et al, 1999; Chen et al, 2006b; Zhu et al, 2009b).

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