Heavy metals in surface sediments of the intertidal Thai Binh Coast, Gulf of Tonkin, East Sea, Vietnam: distribution, accumulation, and contamination assessment

Heavy metals contamination in sediments may endanger ecosystems and human health via the food chain. In fact, there is little to no understanding about heavy metal accumulation in surface sediment of one of the most economically important marine bodies for Vietnam, the Thai Binh Coast, where five la...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science and pollution research international 2022-06, Vol.29 (27), p.41261-41271
Main Authors: Duong, Lim Thi, Nguyen, Bac Quang, Dao, Cham Dinh, Dao, Nhiem Ngoc, Nguyen, Huong Lan Thi, Nguyen, Thuy Huong Thi, Nguyen, Chi Ha Thi, Duong, Dien Cong, Pham, Ngo Nghia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accumulation
Analytical methods
Anthropogenic factors
Aquatic Pollution
Arsenic
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Cadmium
Chromium
Contamination
Copper
Correlation coefficient
Correlation coefficients
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecotoxicology
Environment
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Health
Environmental science
Food chains
Food contamination
Heavy metals
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
Intertidal zone
Mass spectroscopy
Mathematical analysis
Mercury
Mercury (metal)
Metal concentrations
Nickel
Organic carbon
Particle size distribution
Pollution levels
Principal components analysis
Research Article
Rivers
Sediment concentration
Sediment pollution
Sediment samplers
Sediments
Size distribution
Spatial variations
Total organic carbon
Waste Water Technology
Water Management
Water Pollution Control
Zinc
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Summary:Heavy metals contamination in sediments may endanger ecosystems and human health via the food chain. In fact, there is little to no understanding about heavy metal accumulation in surface sediment of one of the most economically important marine bodies for Vietnam, the Thai Binh Coast, where five large rivers co-discharge into the Gulf of Tonkin. Twenty-seven surface sediment samples were collected from the intertidal regions and analyzed for: arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). The studied area exhibited a large spatial variation in the concentration of heavy metals, e.g., the dry sediment concentration of Cd was the least (0.05–0.49 mg.kg −1 ), whereas that of Zn was the greatest (45.4–252 mg.kg −1 ). Based on the geoaccumulation index ( I geo ), most of the studied heavy metals were accumulated at low pollution levels, except four locations exhibited moderately and highly polluted levels of Hg with I geo Hg values from 1.92 to 2.66. However, the high contamination factor value implicated that not only Hg but also all other detected heavy metals in this area resulted from anthropogenic activities along the coast and the river upstream. This implied the need for quick action from the government. In addition, numerous analytical methods were used to see the association between metals, total organic carbon (TOC), and particle size distribution, including Pearson correlation coefficient (P) and principal component analysis (PCA). Hg demonstrates lowest connection with TOC (P Hg-TOC  ~ 0) but individual heavy metal correlations are largely positive, with many reaching 1.0 (e.g., P Ni-Cr  = 0.89, P Cd-As  = 0.72, P Ni-Cu  = 0.76, and P Cu-Cr  = 0.72). From the PCA diagram, we can observe that those sampling points in the positive direction of PC1 were expected to have a high concentration of Cu, Zn, As, Ni while having extremely little sand content.
ISSN:0944-1344
1614-7499
DOI:10.1007/s11356-022-18881-0