Geoaccumulation Index and Enrichment Factor of Arsenic in Surface Sediment of Bukit Merah Reservoir, Malaysia

Abstract

An investigation study was conducted in Bukit Merah Reservoir (BMR) for the assessment of arsenic concentration in the surface sediment in 23 sampling stations. The sediment samples were digested and analysed for arsenic using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Sediment parameters such as pH (4.42 ± 0.71), redox potential (121.77 ± 42.45 mV), conductivity (205.7 ± 64.07 μS cm–1) and organic matter (25.35 ± 9.34%) were also examined. The main objectives of this study are to determine the arsenic distribution and concentration and at the same time to assess the enrichment of arsenic using the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and enrichment factor (EF). This study shows the total arsenic concentration in the surface sediment of BMR is 4.302 ± 2.43 mg kg–1 and found to be below the threshold value of Canadian Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines (ISQG). High arsenic concentration is recorded near the southern part of the lake where anthropogenic activities are prevalent. Based on Igeo, 13% of sampling stations are categorised as moderately polluted, 52.2% as unpolluted to moderately polluted and the rest is categorised as unpolluted. EF shows 78.3% stations are classified as extremely high enrichment and the rest as very high enrichment. This finding provides important information on the status of arsenic contamination in BMR and creating awareness concerning the conservation and management of the reservoir in the future.

Pollution assessment and source apportionment of trace elements in Brazilian urban topsoils

“…Some authors have observed that using reference environments to calculate the IGEO results in higher values when compared with those calculated considering CS as background (Ghrefat et al, 2011;Kasemodel et al, 2019;Lange, 2018). Discrepancies between IGEO and EF have also reported, and often associated with the choice of reference element, resulting in over-or underestimated of EF values (Abdullah et al, 2020;Shafie et al, 2007). In the present study, the indexes calculated using CS as a reference indicate higher contamination for some metals.…”

Heavy Metal(oid)s Contamination and Potential Ecological Risk Assessment in Agricultural Soils

“…The referenced metals are Mn, Sc, Al, Fe, and Sn. In this study, we used Fe as a reference metal due to its relatively high levels in the earth’s crust [ 51 , 59 , 62 , 63 , 64 ]. where [X/M ref ] sample and [X/M ref ] crust refer to the ratio of mean concentrations (mg/kg) of the target metal(oid) in the examined soil and continental crust, respectively.…”

Characteristics of Soil Heavy Metal Pollution and Health Risks in Chenzhou City

“…The geo-accumulation index, conceived by the esteemed German scientist G. Müller, serves as a metric to quantify the degree of accumulation of heavy metals or other pollutants within soil matrices [39,40]. In contrast to alternative methodologies for assessing pollution, the geo-accumulation index method stands as distinct because of its inclusion of factors influencing shifts in baseline values due to natural diagenesis.…”