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Water chemistry of the headwaters of the Yangtze River

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Abstract

A total of 31 river water samples were collected from the headwater of the Yangtze River and its tributaries across Shigu Town to Mt. Tangula region. Water chemistry analysis was carried out to investigate water quality in the upstream Yangtze River. The results show that the headwaters of Yangtze River are turbid and have an alkaline environment with pH ranges from 8.3 to 9.3. The oxidation reduction potential (ORP) of the water varies from −77.1 to −134.2 mv with an average of −88.8 mv, indicating an anoxic water surface. Based on the ions analysis, the water chemistry of headwaters of the Yangtze River is affected by mineral (magnesium and calcium sulfate) weathering, evaporation–crystallization processes and ground water discharge. Concentrations of ions and elements except Hg in the headwaters of Yangtze River presented a trend of decreasing with the downward of altitude. All heavy metals and other toxic elements concentrations in this study were under the WHO and GB (China national standards) guidelines. But attention should be given to Hg because the concentration of Hg (2.6 ng/l) was much higher than the world average (0.07 ng/l) and it increased as the river flows down, which may become a threat to the inhabitants in the downstream area of the river.

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Acknowledgments

Support from Academy of Finland (Decision number 264307), National Natural Science Foundation of China (21121001, 41225002) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank Dr. Qianggong Zhang, Chengding Li and Xiaobing Shi for the field work preparation. The authors also are thankful to Professor Peter Jones (Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland) for the valuable comments on the English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Green Chemistry, Lappeenranta University of Technology, 50130, Mikkeli, Finland

    Bin Qu, Mika Sillanpää, Yulan Zhang, Junming Guo & Mahmoud S. M. Abdel Wahed

  2. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Yulan Zhang, Junming Guo & Shichang Kang

  3. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt

    Mahmoud S. M. Abdel Wahed

  4. State Key Laboratory of Cryspheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Shichang Kang

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  1. Bin Qu
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Correspondence to Bin Qu.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Table 4 ICP-AES: wavelength used for each element and corresponding limit of detection (LOD)
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Table 5 Concentrations of ions in the upstream of Yangtze River. China and the world (mg/L)
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Table 6 Concentrations of trace elements in the upstream of Yangtze River
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Table 7 Pearson Correlation (r) of chemical compositions (ions and elements) in the upstream of Yangtze River China
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Table 8 National and international quality standards for drinking water surface water quality (in mg/L)
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Qu, B., Sillanpää, M., Zhang, Y. et al. Water chemistry of the headwaters of the Yangtze River. Environ Earth Sci 74, 6443–6458 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4174-4

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