Determination of heavy metal contents and evaluation of the ecological risk of the sediments of Tingjiang River

The contents of the heavy metals in the sediment samples of Tingjiang river were determinated by ICP-MS to investigate the distribution of 13 elements.The Index of Geoaccumulation and the Potential Ecological Risk Index were employed to evaluate the pollution degree of heavy metals in the sediments.The results indicate that ICP-MS was rapid,simple and accurate for determining the heavy metal elements.The descending order of pollution degree of various metals was CdCuAsSeUCo=ZnPbMnThNi=TlCr by the Index of Geoaccumulation.And similarly the potential ecological risk intensity caused by 6 different metals was CdCuAsPbZnCr.Cd,Cu and As were the main factors.The RI value of 3# was 1283,which suggested that the ecological risk and the pollution was the worst,followed by 2#,and 1# was also polluted.