Heavy Metal Contamination and Potential Ecological Risk Assessment of Sediments in Yangzonghai Lake

The content and characteristics of ten heavy metals in surface sediments from Yangzonghai Lake in Yunnan, China were analyzed Ecological risk index presented by Hakanson to assess the potential ecological risk of Yangzonghai Lake was utilized The results showed that the average concentrations of Ti, Mn, Zn, V, Cr, Cu, Ni, Co, Pb and As m surface sediments of Yangzonghai Lake were up to 9413 1, 617 9, 149 2, 189 6, 145 8, 97 6, 55 1, 27 4, 40 3 and 31 4mg/kg, respectively, which are higher than their natural background values Pearson's correlation analysis indicated that Zn, Cr, Pb and As were highly correlated and had similar distributions in sediment Ti, Mn, V, Cu, Ni, and Co were also well correlated and similar in distribution The evaluation of single-factor pollution index indicated that the 10 heavy metals were enriched to a certain degree, all reaching the level of medium pollution Among them, As, Cu, and Cr were the most important factors of environmental pollution in Yangzonghai Lake A comprehensive potential ecological risk index revealed that in Yangzonghai Lake as a whole, heavy metals reached the level of slight ecological risks, and in some parts, they even reached the medium level Heavy metals in Yangzonghai Lake in the descending order of their ecological risks were As, Cu, Co, Ni, Pb, Cr, V, Zn, Mn and Ti Among them, As was more prominent than other heavy metals in terms of the ecological risk and thus the most important factor of ecological risk in surface sediment of Yangzonghai Lake