LAUSR

The southern China coast areas are often invaded by typhoons, probably causing the redistribution of heavy metals in sediments. The knowledge of the influence of typhoons on the redistribution of heavy metals along the coasts is limited. The sea-floor sediments from the Leizhou Peninsula (LP) coast, southern China, were sampled to test the spatial distribution of the heavy metal before and after typhoons Barijat and Mangkhut in 2018. Results indicated that the coast suffered from varying levels of As contamination, while only minor enrichments were found in a few locations for other heavy metals. The pollution level on the western LP coast seemed to be higher than on the eastern coast. All heavy metals were mainly provided by terrigenous materials from the natural processes and were less affected by grain sizes. After the typhoon landings, more oxidation conditions promoted the deposits of As and the adsorption of Mo by MnO2.