An assessment of heavy metal contamination in the marine soil/sediment of Coles Bay Area, Svalbard, and Greater Bay Area, China: a baseline survey from a rapidly developing bay

The objective of this research is to investigate the pollution levels of tin (Sn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), and zinc (Zn) of soil/sediment taken in Coles Bay Area (CBA), Svalbard, and Great Bay Area (GBA), China, in an attempt to evaluate the pollution potential related to recent development in the areas. A total of 150 soil/sediment samples were collected in each location. Heavy metal concentrations were detectable levels at all sites and the values of Cd of all soil/sediment samples were higher than Dutch Target and Intervention Values. Heavy metal concentration in soil/sediment was further analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA). It was revealed that three components were found in two studying sites and contributed 60.2% and 75.9% of variations to reflect soil/sediment quality in CBA and GBA, respectively. Based on the results of KMO (0.52) and Bartlett’s test ( p < 0.000), there are 32.1%, 15.6%, and 11.1% and 39.45%, 19.01%, and 17.52% of the variance in the first, second, and third component explained that the metal concentration of Pb, Cd, and Sn was highly correlated with the soil/sediment quality in CBA and GBA, respectively. Among these three heavy metals, Cd concentration was the common dominant factor to affect soil/sediment quality in these two study sites. It is recommended that investigation of the sources of pollution (either point or non-point source) during CBA or GBA development and management together with consideration of abiotic (soil)-biotic (organisms) interactions should be taken into account when choosing suitable remediation strategies in the future.