Heavy Metals in Surficial Sediment from Bidong Island, Southern South China Sea

Abstract

The toxicity of heavy metals in the marine environment has been one of the primary deliberate among scientists around the world in recent years. Heavy metals are mainly derived anthropogenic from industrial and human activities and are significant pollutants in our environment due to the metals toxicity, prolonged existence and bioaccumulation problems. Hence, the distribution of selected heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr and Fe) in surficial sediments collected using Smith McIntyre was determined to gather the pollution status of Bidong Island waters. The heavy metals content was determined by Inductive Coupled Plasma—Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) after digested in mixed acid in Teflon Bomb digester. The findings revealed that the mean concentrations of heavy metals were Zn (61.3 ± 9.36 µg/g), Cd (0.15 ± 0.06 µg/g), Pb (20.5 ± 5.36 µg/g), Cu (19.3 ± 5.78 µg/g), Cr (47.0 ± 16.1 µg/g) and Fe (4.21 ± 1.41%), respectively. Contamination status was evaluated using two assessments, namely enrichment factors (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo). Results show that all the metals studied had relatively low average value for both contamination assessment, except for a few stations located between the mainland and the island. Based on the finding, the concentration of heavy metals studied in sediment off Bidong Island waters has been preconditioned by both anthropogenic and natural inputs into the marine environment.KeywordsBidong IslandEnrichment factorHeavy metalsPollutionIndex of geoaccumulationRV Discovery