Assessment of heavy metal enrichment in the offshore fine-grained sediments of the Caspian Sea

Sampling of the offshore seabed sediments of southwestern part of the Caspian Sea was carried out by gravity corer in order to study heavy metal concentration and the physicochemical factors controlling their distribution in the fine-grained fraction. The grain size distribution, amount, and type of clay minerals, total organic carbon (TOC) content, and Eh–pH of the sediments were determined. The average concentrations of the heavy metals in ppm are Mn (563), Cu (207.5), Sr (187), Zn (94), Pb (26.3), Ni (14.5), Co (11.5), Cd (2.56), and Ag (1.04) in their order of abundances. Co and Zn mostly indicate increase in silt-size fraction of the sediments suggesting their probable detrital provenance but the Mn, Ni, Cu, Sr, Pb, Cd, and Ag concentrations show a similar trend to distribution of the clay-size fraction. The concentrations of Mn, Co, and Cd increase with increase in the TOC content but the Cu, Pb, Ni, Ag, and Sr concentrations decrease with increase of the TOC content. The amounts of Zn, Cu, Sr, Pb, Cd, and Ag increase with increase in the CaCO₃ content. The calculated enrichment factor indicates that the sediments are very strong to extremely enriched in Ag, significantly enriched in Cu and Cd, and depleted to mineral for Pb, Sr, Co, Ni, and Zn. Variations of the Cu, Sr, Cd, Ag, and Pb concentrations are similar to the clay and CaCO₃ distributions.     

The use of sensory perception indicators for improving the characterization and modelling of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) grade in soils

This paper proposes a multistep approach for creating a 3D stochastic model of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) grade in potentially polluted soils of a deactivated oil storage site by using chemical analysis results as primary or hard data and classes of sensory perception variables as secondary or soft data. First, the statistical relationship between the sensory perception variables (e.g. colour, odour and oil–water reaction) and TPH grade is analysed, after which the sensory perception variable exhibiting the highest correlation is selected (oil–water reaction in this case study). The probabilities of cells belonging to classes of oil–water reaction are then estimated for the entire soil volume using indicator kriging. Next, local histograms of TPH grade for each grid cell are computed, combining the probabilities of belonging to a specific sensory perception indicator class and conditional to the simulated values of TPH grade. Finally, simulated images of TPH grade are generated by using the P-field simulation algorithm, utilising the local histograms of TPH grade for each grid cell. The set of simulated TPH values allows several calculations to be performed, such as average values, local uncertainties and the probability of the TPH grade of the soil exceeding a specific threshold value.     

大连市臭氧污染特征及典型污染日成因

通过对大连市区10个空气监测子站的监测数据进行分析,探讨了大连市臭氧污染的时空分布、气象条件对臭氧污染的影响,对臭氧污染日进行了归类分析。结果表明,大连市臭氧污染主要出现在4—10月。在强紫外辐射、高温、低湿、低压和低风速的气象条件下,监测点位的臭氧浓度较高。臭氧污染日的日变化分为单峰型、双峰型和夜间持续升高型3种类型。通过对2015年的一次高浓度臭氧污染过程的气象条件、污染物浓度和污染气团轨迹进行分析,发现臭氧浓度在夜间持续升高现象与区域输送密切相关。     

Biomonitoring of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in heavily polluted aquatic environment in different fish species

The distribution and concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in fish species (European perch Perca fluviatilis, northern pike Esox lucius, pike perch Sander lucioperca, wels catfish Silirus glanus, common carp Cyprinus carpio, European eel Anguilla anguilla, freshwater bream Abramis brama, goldfish Carassius auratus, and roach Rutilus rutilus) in a heavily polluted water reservoir Zemplínska ?írava (Slovakia). The study performed at two different time points 5?years apart (2004 and 2009) revealed serious PCB contamination of fish muscle tissue and significant interspecies as well as tissue-specific differences in PCB uptake by fish. Total PCBs broadly correlated with the trophic position of individual fish species within a food chain (P??0.05). The study has shown that the kind of fish, its feeding habit, and specific conditions of the habitat are mutually interrelated factors that are responsible for significant variations in fish body burdens. A tendency to PCB biomagnification was also proved in some fish species of this water reservoir.     

Multivariate analysis of mixed contaminants (PAHs and heavy metals) at manufactured gas plant site soils

Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to provide an overview of the distribution pattern of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals in former manufactured gas plant (MGP) site soils. PCA is the powerful multivariate method to identify the patterns in data and expressing their similarities and differences. Ten PAHs (naphthalene, acenapthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, benzo[a]pyrene) and four toxic heavy metals — lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and zinc (Zn) — were detected in the site soils. PAH contamination was contributed equally by both low and high molecular weight PAHs. PCA was performed using the varimax rotation method in SPSS, 17.0. Two principal components accounting for 91.7% of the total variance was retained using scree test. Principle component 1 (PC1) substantially explained the dominance of PAH contamination in the MGP site soils. All PAHs, except anthracene, were positively correlated in PC1. There was a common thread in high molecular weight PAHs loadings, where the loadings were inversely proportional to the hydrophobicity and molecular weight of individual PAHs. Anthracene, which was less correlated with other individual PAHs, deviated well from the origin which can be ascribed to its lower toxicity and different origin than its isomer phenanthrene. Among the four major heavy metals studied in MGP sites, Pb, Cd and Cr were negatively correlated in PC1 but showed strong positive correlation in principle component 2 (PC2). Although metals may not have originated directly from gaswork processes, the correlation between PAHs and metals suggests that the materials used in these sites may have contributed to high concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr and Zn. Thus, multivariate analysis helped to identify the sources of PAHs, heavy metals and their association in MGP site, and thereby better characterise the site risk, which would not be possible if one uses chemical analysis alone.     

Heavy metal pattern and solute concentration in soils along the oldest highway of the world – the AVUS Autobahn

Highways and main roads are a potential source of contamination for the surrounding environment. High traffic rates result in elevated heavy metal concentrations in road runoff, soil and water seepage, which has attracted much attention in the recent past. Nonetheless, investigations of pollutants in roadside soils are still a subject of major interest due to the rapid development of traffic systems and increasing traffic all over the world. The accumulation of the heavy metals Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn in soils along the oldest federal highway of the world has been studied by sampling a roadside transect of 125 by 10?m. In addition, heavy metal concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cr in soil solutions from different distances (2.5, 5 and 10?m) from the hard shoulder of the highway and from three soil depths (10, 30, and 50?cm) were investigated. The results show that heavy metal concentrations are up to 20 times increased compared to the geochemical background levels and a reference site of 800-m distance from the roadside. Soil matrix concentrations in the topsoil (0-10?cm) mostly exceeded the precautionary values of the German Federal Soil Protection and Contamination Ordinance (BBodSchV). The concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn in the soil matrix tended to decrease with distance from the roadside edge, whereas the concentrations in the soil solution increased at a distance of 10?m onwards due to a lower soil pH. Because of both high pH values and a high sorption capacity of the soils, soil solution concentrations seldom exceeded the trigger values of the German Federal Soil Protection and Contamination Ordinance (BBodSchV) for transferring soil solution to groundwater.     

Determination of heavy metals and metals levels in five fish species from I??kl? Dam Lake and Karaca?ren Dam Lake (Turkey)

The concentrations of heavy metals and metals (Zn, Pb, Bi, Cd, Ni, Co, Fe, Mn, Mg, Cu, Cr, Ca, Sr, Na, Li, K) were measured in muscle of five species Cyprinus carpio (from I??kl? dam), Scardinius erythrophthalmus (from I??kl? dam), Tinca tinca (from I??kl? dam), C. carpio (from Karaca?ren dam), Carassius carassius (from Karaca?ren dam) caught from I??kl? and Karaca?ren. The highest metal was Na (466.95 μg/g) in C. carassius, while the lowest levels were Fe (0.37 μg/g) and Cu (0.37 μg/g) in C. carpio from I??kl? dam. The mean concentrations μg/g d.w. some of heavy metals in muscle of C. carpio (from I??kl? dam), S. erythrophthalmus (from I??kl? dam), T. tinca (from I??kl? dam), C. carpio (from Karaca?ren dam), C. carassius (from Karaca?ren dam) were as follows: Cd 2.00-2.10-1.95-2.06-2.27, Zn 4.36-2.64-13.13-13.33-24.47, Pb 1.65-1.24-1.90-2.37-2.41, Co 2.46-2.37-2.48-2.58-2.80, Mg 138.51-154.35-218.59-204.58-202.16, Fe 0.37-2.62-3.17-3.01-12.33, respectively.