Spatial distribution and risk assessment of heavy metals and As pollution in the sediments of a shallow lake

The concentrations and spatial distributions of eight heavy metals in surface sediments and sediment core samples from a shallow lake in China were investigated to evaluate the extent of the contamination and potential ecological risks. The results showed that the heavy metal concentrations were higher in the northern and southwestern lake zones than those in the other lake zones, with lower levels of As, Hg, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, and Ni primarily observed in the central and eastern lake regions and Cd primarily confined to areas surrounding the lake. The concentrations of the eight heavy metals in the sediment profiles tended to decrease with increasing sediment depth. The contents of Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd in the surface sediment were approximately 1.23-18.41-fold higher than their background values (BVs), whereas the contents of Cr, As, and Hg were nearly identical to their BVs. The calculated pollution load index (PLI) suggested that the surface sediments of this lake were heavily polluted by these heavy metals and indicated that Cd was a predominant contamination factor. The comprehensive potential ecological risk index (PERI) in the surface sediments ranged from 99.2 to 2882.1, with an average of 606.1. Cd contributed 78.7% to the PERI, and Hg contributed 8.4 %. Multivariate statistical analyses revealed that the surface sediment pollution with heavy metals mainly originated from industrial wastewater discharged by rivers located in the western and northwestern portion of the lake.