Distribution of Heavy Metals and Rare Earth Elements in the Surface Sediments of Penang River Estuary, Malaysia

Abstract

Geochemical sediment of the tropical Pinang River, Malaysia was carried out with the aim at documenting elemental concentrations and pollution level assessment. Concentration of selected heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn and Mn), rare earth elements, TOC and grain size distribution of sediments were determined at 100 m sampling interval along the river. Sediment size showed a positive correlation with ƩREE and Mn and medium correlations with TOC, Zn, Cu, Cr and Pb contents showing enrichment in the clay size fraction. Results of enrichment factor and geoaccumulation index showed that most of the elemental sources were natural (especially REE) and mostly likely represented background values. However, pollution load index revealed the higher levels of Cr, Cd, Zn and Pb, and, therefore, indicating to the anthropogenic sources (i.e. fishing activities) especially in the downstream locations. Thus, the Pinang River is classified as moderately to highly polluted.

Assessment of Heavy Metals Distribution in the Surface Sediment of Kemaman River, Terengganu

“…The sampling activities were accomplished in October 2019. Figure 1 shows the sampling stations along the Kemaman and Chukai Rivers The collected sediments were digested using the method by Kamaruzzaman et al (2010) and Ong et al (2016) to obtain the heavy metal content. A total of 0.05 g of sieved sediment was weighed using an analytical balance and transferred to a Teflon beaker.…”

Sediment and Organisms as Marker for Metal Pollution

“…The physicochemical nature of sediment-bound metals is important in the bioaccumulation of aquatic organisms such as fishes and shellfish. Sediment quality has been recognized as an important and sensitive indicator or geo-marker of environmental pollution by various scientists [35,36] since sediments can act as an important sink for various pollutants, such as metals that had been discharged into the environment [37,38]. Besides acting as pollution indicator, sediments are also important in the remobilization process of contaminants in aquatic environment under favorable conditions through the interaction process between waste column and surface sediments.…”