Sediment Grain size and heavy metal pollution characteristics in the mud deposit area offshore the Shandong Peninsula before 5000 years

Abstract

In this paper, we analyzed the characteristics of grain size, distribution of seven heavy metals and pollution characteristics of sediments from mud deposit area offshore the Shandong Peninsula before 5000 years, and quantitatively evaluate the ecological risk by the potential ecological risk index method. From 5000 to 8500a, the sediment types in the muddy area offshore Shandong Peninsula are very simple, all of which were silt. The average contents of seven heavy metals were 84.03, 78.78, 30.12, 24.71, 7.39, 0.10 and 0.01μg/g, respectively. The results of single factor pollution evaluation showed that only the content of Cr in the sediment exceeded the standard slightly 5000 years ago, with the maximum exceeding ration of 5%. The RI values of heavy metals in the sediments ranged from 71.28 to 180.79, and the sediments were at low potential ecological risk and had little biological toxicity except for individual layers.