Abstract
Karst areas have much higher ecological vulnerability and are prone to be contaminated. Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were detected in waters and sediment from the two sites of the karst Nanshan underground river system, China, to understand the sources and transport of OCPs in the underground river systems. Obviously, seasonal variations were found both in the waters and the sediments. Detected OCPs ranged from 61 to 936 ng L−1 in the groundwaters and 51–3,842.0 ng g−1 in the underground sediments, respectively. OCPs in groundwaters were mixture of younger and older residues from commercial sources. The maximum OCPs in the sediments of the underground river were historically older residues from commercial sources. The sources of OCPs in the waters and sediments of the underground river indicated that the surface systems play an important role in OCPs transport and pollution in the underground river. Karst features were liable for the transport behavior.
Highlights
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), organic materials with higher bioaccumulation, toxicity, volatility, and long-range atmospheric transport can cause environmental damage, Environ Earth Sci (2014) 71:1977–1987Karst groundwater is the drinking water supply for about one-quarter of the population on the earth (Jiang et al 2009a, b)
The concentrations of ROCPs in underground river waters ranged from 61 ng L-1 in May to 936 ng L-1 in October
The content of ROCPs in underground sediments ranged from 51 ng g-1 in January to 3,842 ng g-1 in May
Summary
Karst groundwater is the drinking water supply for about one-quarter of the population on the earth (Jiang et al 2009a, b). Muhayimana et al (2009) and Wang et al (2011) analyzed OCPs in soils in a karst area while Ekmecki (2005) found pollution from OCPs in karst springs waters Beside these researches of OCPs, nutrient transports have been reported extensively. In this study, the focus is on the Nanshan underground river, a karst groundwater system in southwest China, to investigate the contamination level and distribution in the surface water, groundwater and sediments, and efforts to identify the sources and transport pathway of OCPs. This study expects a potential role of a karst area as the pollution in the underground system because potential and actual sources of pollution to groundwater in karst areas are a common concern throughout the world (Bohlke 2002)
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