Notice of RetractionSpatial Distribution and Seasonal Variations of Heavy Metals in Surface Water from Hun River, Northeast China

Notice of Retraction

After careful and considered review of the content of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE´s Publication Principles.

We hereby retract the content of this paper. Reasonable effort should be made to remove all past references to this paper.

The presenting author of this paper has the option to appeal this decision by contacting TPII@ieee.org.

The objectives of this study were to investigate the contamination levels and dispersion patterns of heavy metals in surface water of Hun River in three periods. Samples of water were collected from upstream to downstream locations, and also from the main tributaries of the Hun River. After appropriate preparation, all samples were analyzed for arsenic, mercury, and chromium (VI). The results indicated that the metal levels of upriver sites were lower than downriver sites; The total concentrations of Cr⁶⁺ and As in dry period was higher than that in flood period. While heavy metal Hg represents the highest concentration in flood period. When compared with the permissible levels set by the People´s Republic of China for environmental quality standards for surface water standard (GB3838-2002), the levels of Cr⁶⁺ and As attained the first and second level, but Hg attained the fifth level. This indicated that most sites of the Hun river has a high risk of Hg pollution in flood period.