Acid-volatile sulfide and simultaneously extracted metals in surface sediments of the southwestern coastal Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea: Concentrations, spatial distributions and the indication of heavy metal pollution status

Surface sediments were collected from the coastal waters of southwestern Laizhou Bay and the rivers it connects with during summer and autumn 2012. The acid-volatile sulfide (AVS) and simultaneously extracted metals (SEM) were measured to assess the sediment quality. The results showed that not all sediments with [SEM]–[AVS] > 0 were capable of causing toxicity because the organic carbon is also an important metal-binding phase in sediments. Suppose the sediments had not been disturbed and the criteria of US Environmental Protection Agency had been followed, heavy metals in this area had no adverse biological effects in both seasons except for few riverine samples. The major ingredient of SEM was Zn, whereas the contribution of Cd – the most toxic metal studied – to SEM was <1%. The distributions of AVS and SEM in riverine sediments were more easily affected by anthropogenic activity compared with those in marine sediments.