Environmental pollution in the Pearl River Estuary:a review
珠江口海域环境污染研究进展

Environmental pollution is serious in the Pearl River Estuary due to human activities and an increasing attention has been paid to the pollution in this region. This paper mainly reviews the eutrophication characteristics and the pollution patterns of persistent toxic substances (PTS, including heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants—POPs) in the water. Results in-dicate that the excessive input of nitrogen and phosphate has led to the high eutrophication in the water. Eutrophication plays an important role in triggering red tides. The coupling effect of the water stratification and eutrophication leads to the seasonal hypoxia in certain areas of the estuary. PTS mainly accumulate in sediment and organisms. The records of pollutants in sedi-ment cores reflect that pollutant accumulation in sediments is closely related to the rapid economical development of the Pearl River Delta in the past three decades. Finally, the critical issues of research are put forward on the environmental pollution of this area in the future, which include biotransformation of pollutants in tissues and bioaccumlation in food chain, the combined pollution of various pollutants in eutrophic water, mechanisms of microbial biodegradation of pollutants, pollution control strategy, among others.