In situ high-resolution evaluation of labile arsenic and mercury in sediment of a large shallow lake.

The precise evaluation of arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) bioavailability in sediment is crucial to controlling As and Hg contamination, but traditional ex situ measurements hamper comprehensive analysis of labile As and Hg in sediment. In this study, we characterized in situ labile As and Hg in sediment of Lake Hongze using the zirconium (Zr) oxide diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique and 3-mercaptopropyl functionalized silica gel DGT, respectively. The concentrations of DGT-labile As and Hg in the sediment profiles were found to exhibit considerable variation, ranging from 0.15 to 4.15 μg L(-1) for As and from 0.04 to 1.35 μg L(-1) for Hg. As and Hg flux values, calculated based on the concentration gradients measured from the DGT profiles for both the overlying water and sediment close to the sediment-water interface, were used to determine the contamination status of As and Hg. Flux values of As and Hg were between -0.066 and 0.067 ng cm(-2)d(-1) and between -0.0187 and 0.0181 ng cm(-2)d(-1), respectively. The GNU's Not Unix R (GNU R) programming language was used to identify outliers of As and Hg at various depths at the sampling sites. The results indicate that the sites with the most outliers were all located in the regions that were seriously affected by contaminants from the Huai River. The DGT-labile As and Hg concentrations in the 0-30 mm layer were found to be significantly correlated with concentrations of labile As and Hg, total dissolved As and Hg, and total As and Hg in the overlying water, as indicated by ex situ measurements. Results show that DGT is a reliable and high-resolution technique that can be used for in situ monitoring of the labile fractions of As and Hg in sediment in fresh water bodies.