Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River Estuary
The Huangmao Island dumping area is adjacent to the Pearl River Estuary in the South China Sea. From its first dumping activity in 1986 to 2017, 6750 × 10<sup>4</sup> m<sup>3</sup> dredged materials were dumped in this dumping area. Sediment pollution levels, ecological risk,...
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/20/9412 |
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| author | Wei Tao Zhongchen Jiang Xiaojuan Peng Zhenxiong Yang Weixu Cai Huili Yu Jianjun Ye |
| author_facet | Wei Tao Zhongchen Jiang Xiaojuan Peng Zhenxiong Yang Weixu Cai Huili Yu Jianjun Ye |
| author_sort | Wei Tao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Huangmao Island dumping area is adjacent to the Pearl River Estuary in the South China Sea. From its first dumping activity in 1986 to 2017, 6750 × 10<sup>4</sup> m<sup>3</sup> dredged materials were dumped in this dumping area. Sediment pollution levels, ecological risk, and benthic communities in 2011–2017 were evaluated; the results showed that the concentrations of the heavy metals (HMs; except Hg) in surface sediments of the dumping area met the class I standard of marine sediment quality (GB 18668-2002). HMs in the surface sediments were relatively high in the northern and central areas but relatively low in the south of the dumping area. Speculation was that the spatial variation in HM concentrations might be caused by dumping activities. The Nemerow index implied that the contaminated area was mainly in the north of the dumping area (S1, S2, and S3), where the dumping amount was the largest. The potential ecological risk (<i>E<sup>i</sup><sub>r</sub></i>) indices of Zn, As, Cu, and Pb indicate that these metals posed a low risk to the ecosystem of the dumping area, whereas Cd and Hg posed a high risk at some stations. The geoaccumulation indices (<i>I<sub>geo</sub></i>) of Zn, As, Cu, and Pb specified no pollution or light pollution in the study area, whereas those of Cd and Hg in most years indicated mild contamination levels. Benthic organisms in the study area were arthropods, chordates, annelids, mollusks, echinoderms, nemertinean, coelenterate, and echiuran, among which arthropods were the most abundant. The abundance of taxa and density of benthic organisms had a little difference among the stations within the dumping area, but were significantly lower than those of the stations outside the dumping area. In addition, non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis confirmed that the observed patterns separated the stations within the dumping area from stations outside the dumping area. The evaluation results of the HMs revealed that the dumping area with a large dumping amount was more severely polluted. Dumping dredged materials seemed to have a negative impact on the benthic community in the dumping area. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:45:47Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:45:47Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-ded8cf9c1fb54480b750ee973f0d34882023-11-22T17:18:09ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-10-011120941210.3390/app11209412Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River EstuaryWei Tao0Zhongchen Jiang1Xiaojuan Peng2Zhenxiong Yang3Weixu Cai4Huili Yu5Jianjun Ye6South China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, ChinaSouth China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, ChinaSouth China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, ChinaSouth China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, ChinaSouth China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, ChinaNational Center of Ocean Standards and Metrology, Tianjin 300112, ChinaSouth China Sea Environment Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Guangzhou 510300, ChinaThe Huangmao Island dumping area is adjacent to the Pearl River Estuary in the South China Sea. From its first dumping activity in 1986 to 2017, 6750 × 10<sup>4</sup> m<sup>3</sup> dredged materials were dumped in this dumping area. Sediment pollution levels, ecological risk, and benthic communities in 2011–2017 were evaluated; the results showed that the concentrations of the heavy metals (HMs; except Hg) in surface sediments of the dumping area met the class I standard of marine sediment quality (GB 18668-2002). HMs in the surface sediments were relatively high in the northern and central areas but relatively low in the south of the dumping area. Speculation was that the spatial variation in HM concentrations might be caused by dumping activities. The Nemerow index implied that the contaminated area was mainly in the north of the dumping area (S1, S2, and S3), where the dumping amount was the largest. The potential ecological risk (<i>E<sup>i</sup><sub>r</sub></i>) indices of Zn, As, Cu, and Pb indicate that these metals posed a low risk to the ecosystem of the dumping area, whereas Cd and Hg posed a high risk at some stations. The geoaccumulation indices (<i>I<sub>geo</sub></i>) of Zn, As, Cu, and Pb specified no pollution or light pollution in the study area, whereas those of Cd and Hg in most years indicated mild contamination levels. Benthic organisms in the study area were arthropods, chordates, annelids, mollusks, echinoderms, nemertinean, coelenterate, and echiuran, among which arthropods were the most abundant. The abundance of taxa and density of benthic organisms had a little difference among the stations within the dumping area, but were significantly lower than those of the stations outside the dumping area. In addition, non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis confirmed that the observed patterns separated the stations within the dumping area from stations outside the dumping area. The evaluation results of the HMs revealed that the dumping area with a large dumping amount was more severely polluted. Dumping dredged materials seemed to have a negative impact on the benthic community in the dumping area.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/20/9412marine dumping areaheavy metaldredged materialbenthic communityHuangmao Island |
| spellingShingle | Wei Tao Zhongchen Jiang Xiaojuan Peng Zhenxiong Yang Weixu Cai Huili Yu Jianjun Ye Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River Estuary Applied Sciences marine dumping area heavy metal dredged material benthic community Huangmao Island |
| title | Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River Estuary |
| title_full | Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River Estuary |
| title_fullStr | Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River Estuary |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River Estuary |
| title_short | Impact of Dredged Material Disposal on Heavy Metal Concentrations and Benthic Communities in Huangmao Island Marine Dumping Area near Pearl River Estuary |
| title_sort | impact of dredged material disposal on heavy metal concentrations and benthic communities in huangmao island marine dumping area near pearl river estuary |
| topic | marine dumping area heavy metal dredged material benthic community Huangmao Island |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/20/9412 |
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