Title: Quantification of potentially toxic dissolved elements in river water using multivariate statistical approaches: a case study of Golmud River, China

Authors: Mahaman Oumar Mahaman; Wenbo Rao; Hongbing Tan

Addresses: College of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China ' College of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China ' College of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China

Abstract: Sixteen river water samples were taken from the Golmud River during the dry and wet seasons of 2019 and analysed for potentially toxic elements (PTEs). This research work has been undertaken to decipher the distribution pattern of PTEs from upstream to downstream, consequently exploring their seasonality, effects on river water quality, and provenances. The multivariate techniques revealed a relatively larger variation of Sr and Ba for the dry season, and on the other hand showed the same tendency for B, Li, P, Ti, and Sb during the wet season at some sampling sites. Computation of water quality index (WQI) demonstrated the deterioration of the Golmud river water in lower reaches especially at G3, G9, G15, and G16 sampling locations where WQI values lie on very poor and poor water category, whereas WQI values of upper and middle reaches were good.

Keywords: Golmud River; fate of toxic elements; pollution; source identification; water quality index; WQI; potentially toxic elements; PTEs; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEE.2023.130998

International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2023 Vol.12 No.1, pp.52 - 71

Received: 12 Jul 2022
Accepted: 26 Nov 2022
Published online: 17 May 2023 *

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