Huang, H.; Cai, L.; Luo, Y.; Wang, J.; Liu, Y.; Sun, X.; Lin, H., and Wang, W., 2018. Distribution and potential ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments of Xiamen Bay. In: Wang, D. and Guido-Aldana, P.A. (eds.), Select Proceedings from the 3rd International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2017). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 84, pp. 125–133. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

The present work envisages the potential ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments of Xiamen Bay. Based on the survey of the surface sediments in May 2012, the concentrations of heavy metals Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Hg and As in sediments were 1.2~57.2, 6.7~76.6, 13.3~150.0, 0.035~0.531, 1.48~92.7, 0.018~0.164, 1.9~10.9 mg.kg⁻¹, respectively. Significant positive correlations were observed amongst the concentrations of Cu, Zn, Hg and As and Total Organic Carbon (TOC). PCA analysis data showed the first three main factors shared 72.70% of the total variance. All stations in the studied area recorded Eⁱr < 40 for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr and As, which were low risk, while Cd reported the highest ecological risk. The results of refractive index (RI) showed that 40.9% of stations in the Xiamen Bay were at a low risk, 45.5% of them were at a moderate risk, while 13.6% were at high ecological risk.