Notice of RetractionEcological risk assessment of heavy metals in sediments of the Xijiang River within the WuZhou section, 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.

Ten sites along the XiJiang River (WuZhou section), China were sampled to evaluate the copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and chromium (Cr) concentrations in sediments. The order of total metal concentrations in sediment samples was found to be Zn>Cu>Cr>Pb>Cd. The approach of Hakanson potential ecological risk index was used for the ecological risk assessment. Compared to soil background values of GuangXi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Cd showed very strong ecological risk, and the five heavy metals of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr at ecological risk levels were in the descending order. A high positive correlation between Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd concentration had been found indicating a common source. These metals are usually used in battery manufacturing industry and chemical plant. The results are useful for understanding heavy metal distributions in the XiJiang river sediment environment and can be used for decision makers to prioritize measures to protect water quality of the Xijiang River.