Assessing metal toxicity in sediments of Yellow River wetland and its surrounding coastal areas, China

Seventy one surface sediments were collected from Yellow River (YR) wetland and its surrounding coastal areas, mainly in Laizhou Bay, China. The equilibrium partitioning (EqP) model and empirical sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) were applied to assess the potential metal toxicity in the collected sediments. The results show that, based on the EqP model, 15% of stations exhibited potential metal toxicity. Several metals (Cu, Ni and Cr) exceeded the empirical SQGs (59–100% of the time), however these guidelines may not be suitable for use in the Bohai Sea owing to the background concentrations. As a result, the EqP model is found to be a more useful method for assessing potential metal toxicity in Bohai Sea sediment than the empirical SQGs. Additionally, we have provided new insights on assessing metal toxicity in sediment of low organic carbon and acid volatile sulfide concentrations, which may be useful for other coastal areas in China.