| The contents of heavy metals or metalloid（i.e. As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn） were investigated in surface sediments from the lakes in the Western part of Jiangsu Province through inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry（ICP-AES）. The contamination level and potential ecological risks of heavy metals were assessed with geo-accumulation index, enrichment factor and potential ecological risk index methods, respectively. It was found that the contents of the heavy metals in the sediments were in the range of 11.6~54.9, 0.12~0.91, 10.06~20.12, 44.01~85.91, 22.74~54.17, 20.31~40.48, 21.40~45.23 and 68.86~254.09 mg·kg-1 for As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn, respectively. Analysis with geo-accumulation index and enrichment factor methods both indicated that Cd and As were the main pollutants, Cu, Zn and Pb caused light pollution in same sampling sites and Co, Cr and Ni were in clean level. For the different lakes examined in the present study, the general indices of potential ecological risk followed the order of Lake Gucheng（284.43）>Lake Shijiu（280.93）>Lake Baima（224.97）>Lake Xuanwu（200.19）>Lake Gaoyou（136.15）>Lake Hongze（133.42）>Lake Luoma（76.26）. One-way ANOVA analysis indicated that very significant difference（P=0.001） existed in the general indices of the different lakes. Therefore, Lake Gucheng, Lake Shijiu, Lake Baima and Lake Xuanwu had moderate ecological risks with Cd and As as the main contributors, while Lake Gaoyou, Lake Hongze and Lake Luoma imposed low ecological risks. |
