The Distribution Of Dissolved Heavy Metals In The Southern Yellow Sea West Surface Water

In recent years, with Chinese rapid social and economic development, the environmental pollution becomes more serious. With land-based sources of pollution ranked as the sea, pollution of the marine environment becomes more prominent. All of that had led to food safety issues, and been against humanity health. In this paper, in July 2006 and in Januanry 2007, the data was achieved from the surveying the heavy metals of surface water in the southern Yellow Sea. We analyse the distributions of dissolved Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, As and Hg, and study the sources and effects on heavy metals distributions. The marine environmental baselines are calculated. The initial results of this paper are as follows:In addition to the Pb and Zn of individual stations in coastal Qingdao and northern Jiangsu shore, most of the heavy metals concentrations in the survey of the southern Yellow Sea waters below the national one class standard. In survey waters, the concentrations of heavy metals generally far from shore to shore showed gradually decreasing trend. In summer, north Jiangsu inshore of heavy metals distributions were extended northeast like a tongue. In winter, in the south of 34°N area, the concentrations of heavy metals on the whole were slightly higher than the north of waters.Comparing with the survey data of southern Yellow Sea in 1998 and 1999, the average concentrations of Cu and Cd have declined, and that of Pb, Zn and Hg have increased.Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd have the significant correlations, which shows the four heavy metals in sea water have similar acts and their main sources are from human activities. In the whole region, the distribution of heavy metals is neither correlated with salinity nor correlated with suspended substance. Factor analysis suggests that one factor may represent different emissions from fuel combustion process; the second factor relates to the organisms absorbions and emissions; Hg is a unique input from human. Preliminary results of cluster analysis can be divided into three categories. The first category is composed by Cu, Zn, which suggests the two metals are from similar sources, and related to biological processes. The second category is including Pb, Cr, As and Cd. The third category is the Hg. It implies that the soures of Hg are different from other heavy metals.We determined the current baselines and unusual boundaries value of heavy metals in the southern Yellow Sea with the relative cumulative frequency analysis.