Assessment of trace element contamination in sediment cores from the Pearl River and estuary, South China: geochemical and multivariate analysis approaches Yongqiang Yang & Zhuli Liu & Fanrong Chen & Shijun Wu & Ling Zhang & Mingliang Kang & Jie Li Received: 12 December 2013 /Accepted: 29 July 2014 /Published online: 28 August 2014 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 Abstract Twenty-four major and trace elements and the mineralogical composition of four sediment cores along the Pearl River and estuary were analyzed using ICP-AES, ICP-MS, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to evaluate contamination levels. The dominant minerals were quartz, kaolinite, and illite, followed by montmo- rillonite and feldspars, while small amounts of halite and calcite were also observed in a few samples. Cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed to identify the element sources. The highest metal concentrations were found at Huangpu, primarily due to wastewater treatment plant discharge and/or the surreptitious dumping of sludge, and these data differed from those of other sources. Excluding the data from Huangpu, the PCA showed that most ele- ments could be considered as lithogenic; few elements are the combination of lithogenic and anthropogenic sources. An antagonistic relationship between the an- thropogenic source metals (K, Ba, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ag, Tl, and U) and marine source metals (Na, Mg, Ti, V, and Ca) was observed. The resulting normalized Al enrichment factor (EF) indicated very high or significant pollution of Cd, Ag, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Pb at Huangpu, which may cause serious environ- mental effects. Conflicting results between the PCA and EF can be attributed to the background values used, indicating that background values must be selected carefully. Keywords Major and trace elements . Multivariate analysis . Enrichment factor . Core sediments . Pearl River Estuary Introduction Geochemical studies of sediments in rivers and estuaries have been extended in the last few decades due to the growing awareness of riverine and estuarine pollution and its effects on the ecosystem (Varol 2011; Attia and Ghrefat 2013; Ho et al. 2013). Most elements entering the aquatic environment are ultimately fixed to sedi- ments. However, these trapped elements may be recycled back to water column where they pose a threat to aquatic ecosystems via the variation of the physico- chemical characteristics of the overlying water and sed- iment (Kalnejais et al. 2010). Therefore, sediment cores provide an archive of historical input and output of various elements within both the river and estuary eco- systems. The collected geochemical information of var- ious elements not only provides an insight into the past Environ Monit Assess (2014) 186:8089–8107 DOI 10.1007/s10661-014-3989-x Y. Yang : Z. Liu : F. Chen (*) : S. Wu : M. Kang : J. Li Key laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China e-mail: frchen@gig.ac.cn Z. Liu : J. Li University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China L. Zhang CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China