Relationship between the characterization of natural colloids and metal elements in surface waters

Natural colloids (NCs) are ubiquities in aquatic environments, which play an important role in the fate and transport of metal elements. Combined with a multi-method analytical approach, this study investigates the spectral characteristics and the contamination of metals of NCs from the five tributaries of Poyang Lake and the lakes in Nanchang City. Results showed that NCs in river samples were characteristic by the smaller molecular weight, lower chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) concentration, higher aromaticity, and higher CDOM contribution to the organic carbon than those in lake samples. Based on the parallel factor analysis model, three fluorophores were identified, including two humic-like components (C1 and C2) and a protein-like component (C3). NCs in river and lake waters were dominant by the humic-like substance (C1) and the protein-like substance (C3), respectively, with the relatively high fluorescence intensity for all the fluorophores in lake samples. Furthermore, NCs from the river samples were primarily terrestrial NCs with a high degree of humification. The average detection frequency of metal elements was nearly 50% for both river and lake samples, whereas the concentrations of the metal elements were higher in lake samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) results showed that the contamination of the detected metals could divide into three categories, with relatively high concentrations of Ba, Pb, Zn, Al, Sr, and Fe in lake samples. Moreover, PCA results showed that NCs in lakes with higher values of the absorbance and fluorescence parameters were associated with the higher concentration of metal elements, revealing that the spectral characteristic could be the proxy indicator of the contamination of metal elements of NCs.