Abstract:
Mercury contents in surface sediments from central and southern part of Bohai Sea were measured using DMA-80 mercury analyzer and then distributions and ecological risk were evaluated further. The results indicated that concentrations of mercury were between 19.5×10
-9 and 106.8×10
-9 and average value was 41.5×10
-9. Hg contents were all over background level of Bohai Sea except one station. The higher concentration stations were mainly distributed in the Yellow River estuary, muddy areas in the central Bohai Sea, and part of Liaodong shallow shoals, While the lower contents area were mainly in the Southern of Bohai Strait and Bozhong shallow shoal. The potential ecological risk index method was used to evaluate the ecological risk of total mercury in surface sediment. The results showed that 72.7 percent of the samples could be rated moderate potential risk grade and 13.6 percent of the samples were rated serious potential ecological risk grade.