Heavy metals in mussels and associated sediments from the coastal sites along the Pearl River Delta, South China

摘要

The concentrations of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), antimony (Sb) and tin (Sn) in mussel and sediment samples collected together from ten different geographical coastal sites of the Pearl River Delta of South China were determined. The mussels studied were 'green-lipped mussels' (Perna viridis). Sampling was carried out from 30 December 2002 to 2 February 2003 (winter season in South China). The results showed that the average concentrations of Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cr, Sb and Sn in mussels were 0.45-3.19, 5.01-29.14, 46.5-86.6, 0.77-4.97, 5.39-12.05, 8.2-86.4, 0.09-0.76 and 4.08-37.98 μg g~(-1) dry weight basis; and 2.14-6.9, 5.58-297.5, 32.4-229, 3.76-18.95, 1.73-42.67, 1.93-72.87, 1.33-6.21 and 46.2-250.2 dry weight basis in sediments, respectively. The metal levels in these mussels varied among the samples from different sites; there were six out of ten sampling stations where the metal concentrations in mussels exceeded the criteria level for chromium in shellfish products: 1 μg g~(-1) wet weight. Good correlation was observed for Cd concentrations in sediments with those in mussels, and a strong correlation was also observed for Cu and Sn in mussels. According to the present results, considerable contamination of Cu, Zn, Cr and Ni in east estuarine zone was evident. Estuarine zone seemed to suffer from Cd, Cu, Ni and Sn contamination as judged by metal concentrations in the mussels and sediments. In west estuarine zone, contamination was mainly due to Cu, Cr and Ni.