Relationship between heavy metal contents and clay mineral properties in surface sediments: Implications for metal pollution assessment

Clay minerals in surface sediments can affect the adsorption of heavy metals. However, few historical studies have focused on the influence of fine clay mineral characteristics on metal sorption. Since the reactions between heavy metals and fine clay minerals in sediments remain obscure, this study investigates the influence of fine clay mineral characteristics on metal sorption in a typical urbanizing small watershed. Clay minerals, including nanoparticles with various size fractions ranging from 1000 to 2000 (clay), 450-1000 (fine clay), and 220-450 (very fine clay) nm were used to demonstrate their transformation from well crystalline to poorly crystalline. The nanoparticles were collected and evaluated by determination of their surface area, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical analyses. The relationship between metal content and properties of the surface sediments was also revealed by canonical correlation analysis. With smaller particle sizes, nanoparticles (very fine clay) were observed to be poorly crystalline, possibly indicating few repetitions of unit cells as a result of preferential structural disruption of other crystal planes caused by pressure-induced phase transition in the fine-size fractions. The first canonical matrix (M) variables of metal contents can be predicted by both surface area and pore volume, followed by kaolinite and illite contents. On the other hand, the category of metal, i.e., Cu, Cr, Zn, or Pb, was significantly correlated with the first 'M' canonical variables. The data obtained in the present study are of fundamental significance in advancing our understanding of the reactions between heavy metals and fine clay minerals in the terrestrial ecosystem.