Contentslistsavailableat ScienceDirect Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul Spatialdistribution,controlfactorsandsourcesofheavymetalinthesurface sedimentsofFuduEstuarywaters,EastLiaodongBay,China PengWang a,b,c ,LianjieZhang b, ⁎ ,XiaLin b ,JishunYan b ,PanZhang b ,BoZhao b ,ChiZhang a,c , YonghaiYu b a College of Harbor, Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China b National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116000, China c Key Laboratory of Coastal Disaster and Defence of Ministry of Education, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Heavy metals Ecological risk Fudu Estuary LiaodongBay BohaiSea ABSTRACT ToinvestigatethesedimentqualityofFuduEstuarywatersinEastLiaodongBay,thegrainsize,concentrations oftotalorganiccarbon(TOC)andheavymetal(Cr,Cu,Zn,As,Cd,Pb)of25surfacesedimentsweretested.The concentrationofheavymetalswasfoundtobehigherintheSouthwestofYingkouPortandoutsidetheFudu Estuary. Cd is the principal contaminant with mild pollutant and moderate ecological risk. Cr may cause ne- gative biological efects. The abnormal enrichment of Cu and TOC may respectively be caused by riverside industrialactivitiesandmariculture.TheabnormalenrichmentofPbinMoonBayBeachandtheLagoonwas suggested to be caused by the mooring of boats or excessive tourist activities. Grain size dominates the con- centrations of heavy metals in the study area. The impact of coastal engineering on sediment quality through changingsedimentarydynamicsshouldalsobegivenparticularattention. 1. Introduction Estuarineareashavebeenagatheringplaceforhumanbeingssince ancient times due to their abundance of water sources and fertile farmland. However, as human activities, such as urbanization and in- dustrialization, continue to develop, estuarine areas have become a major ultimate destination for large quantities of pollutants (Wang et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2019a, b, c). High concentrations of heavy metals have posed a serious threat to marine organisms due to their high toxicity, accumulation and poor biodegradability (Waheedetal., 2013; Zhang et al., 2017). Further, as marine aquatic products are important sources of protein and plant fber, heavy metals can cause latent harm to human health through food chain migration (Vardhan etal.,2019; Nyamburaetal.,2020). Liaodong Bay, one of the three major bays in the Bohai Sea, has becomeoneofthemostpollutedmarineareasinChinaasaresultofthe rapid economic growth of recent decades, and has thus produced an adverseimpactonthesustainabilityoftheBohaiSea(SongandDuan, 2019). The Fudu Estuary (N 40°07′, E 121°57′) is nestled on the east bankofLiaodongBayoftheBohaiSea(Fig.1).AstheFuduRiverisrich in sand, a barrier bar-lagoon sedimentary system extending along the bankhasbeendevelopedattheoutsideoftheestuary,representingthe only one left on the east bank of Liaodong Bay at present. It holds importantgeological,landscapeandscientifcresearchvalue.Onboth sides of the Fudu Estuary are beautiful beaches stretching for 20 km. The well-known Moon Bay Beach lies on the North of the estuary. In recent decades, in the wake of large-scale urbanization and in- dustrialization,humanactivities,suchasportandwharfdevelopment, bulkcargotransportation,thermalpowerprojectsandseaaquaculture, have led to diminishing sandy coastline of the east bank of Liaodong Bayyearbyyear(Xuetal.,2019),andthequalityofmarinesediment hasalsodeclined(Wangetal.,2019a,b,c). Several other researchers have previously studied the sediment pollutionstatusofLiaodongBay.TheDaliaoheEstuaryandShuangtaizi Estuary are both intermediaries for pollutants fowing into Liaodong Bay and important wetlands (Zhang et al., 2014; Li et al., 2015), making them important areas of research attention. Due to the trans- portation of pollutants imported from rivers, the content of heavy metalsinsedimentsofLiaodongBaydiminishesprogressivelyfromthe coastsandestuariestothesea(Wangetal.,2019a,b,c).TheNorthern LiaodongBayhasbeenplaguedwithsevererpollutionthantheEastern and Western regions. The intertidal zones of the Jinzhou Bay and Liaohe Estuary have quite severe potential ecological hazards (Chen etal.,2019).Amongothers,Cdisbelievedtobetheprimarypollution https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111279 Received21March2020;Receivedinrevisedform12May2020;Accepted13May2020 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: 957954636@qq.com (L.Zhang). Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111279 Available online 22 May 2020 0025-326X/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T