Table 2. Pearson correlation matrix of heavy metals and physicochemical parameters (pH, EC, DO, and T) in the Zhujiang River, China.

	V	Cr	Mn	Co	Ni	Cu	Mo	Cd	Ba	Pb	pH	EC	DO	T
V	1	−0.176	−0.144	−0.254*	0.126	−0.146	0.085	−0.069	0.124	−0.012	−0.462**	−0.187	−0.625**	0.316**
Cr	−0.017	1	−0.241*	0.477**	0.308**	0.081	0.209	−0.094	0.421**	0.006	0.563**	0.852**	0.117	−0.552**
Mn	0.021	−0.290**	1	0.520**	−0.059	0.077	0.215	0.227*	−0.119	0.079	−0.129	−0.081	−0.028	−0.076
Co	−0.177	0.014	0.591**	1	0.122	0.046	0.215	0.040	0.252*	0.006	0.280*	0.481**	0.082	−0.372**
Ni	−0.050	−0.148	0.312**	0.041	1	0.538**	0.178	−0.040	0.303**	0.012	0.235*	0.323**	0.029	−0.316**
Cu	−0.025	−0.176	−0.005	−0.009	0.650**	1	0.103	−0.055	0.086	0.050	0.206	0.182	0.082	−0.328**
Mo	0.034	−0.172	−0.028	−0.063	−0.048	0.017	1	0.079	0.274*	−0.006	0.493**	0.498**	0.243*	−0.190
Cd	0.143	−0.159	−0.028	−0.036	−0.029	−0.025	0.114	1	−0.117	0.279*	0.018	0.084	−0.001	0.075
Ba	0.287**	0.219*	0.059	−0.011	0.155	0.021	−0.016	0.008	1	−0.035	0.216	0.446**	0.001	−0.216
Pb	0.008	−0.130	0.673**	0.284*	−0.001	−0.008	−0.036	−0.044	−0.050	1	0.049	0.018	0.173	0.082
pH	−0.494**	0.594**	−0.241*	0.086	−0.280*	−0.319**	−0.032	−0.148	0.123	−0.089	1	0.702**	0.668**	−0.400**
EC	−0.360**	0.773**	−0.237*	0.202	−0.100	−0.130	−0.154	−0.084	0.203	−0.111	0.771**	1	0.215	−0.660**
DO	−0.125	−0.186	0.008	0.070	−0.015	−0.065	0.166	0.071	−0.013	−0.010	0.068	0.003	1	−0.040
T	0.202	−0.326**	0.053	−0.235*	0.136	0.154	0.016	−0.029	−0.147	0.057	−0.567**	−0.532**	−0.108	1

Notes:

^*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed).

^**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Bold italics: correlation coefficients in high flow season; Normal font: correlation coefficients in low flow season.