Distribution of Heavy Metals, Organic Matter and Mean Size in Sediment at the Perlis River

Abstract

The distributions of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn), organic matter and mean size were determined in the riverbed sediment by means of 10 sampling points in Perlis River. From this study, mean of heavy metals concentration in the sediment was dominated primarily by Cr with the concentration of 97.02 ± 9.34 mg/kg dry weight, followed by Zn (80.84 ± 31.68 mg/kg dry weight), Pb (58.67 ± 32.63 mg/kg dry weight), Cu (26.69 ± 10.34 mg/kg dry weight), As (24.52 ± 8.77 mg/kg dry weight) and Cd (0.11 ± 0.03 mg/kg dry weight). The distribution of organic matter ranged between 3.90 and 7.56 %, while mean size ranged between 6.95 and 7.55 respectively. The average of each heavy metal except Cd and Zn were found to be above the ISGQ standard which was proposed by Canadian Sediment Quality Guidelines. Correlation analysis showed that all metals except Cu were significantly correlated with the distribution of organic matter. This finding is crucial to determine the metals level in the sediment as well as to update the current status of metals pollution in the Perlis River.