Abstract:
Sediment collected from 8 stations which located at Kemaman nearshore area were
analyzed for Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb and Fe concentration according to sediment fraction size of
40µm, 63 µm, 90µm, 125µm, 250µm and 500µm and grain size. Samples were collected
using Smith Mcintyre and analyzed using ICPMS. The range for concentrations of metals
were (0.036µg/g to 0.143µg/g) for Cd, (1.17µg/g to 12.35µg/g) for Cu, (42.55µg/g to
131.54µg/g) for Zn, (13.63µg/g to 36.78µg/g) for Pb and (3.21% to 7.69%) for Fe. The
statistical analysis of Pearson Correlation proved that there is significant relationship
between metal concentration and size fraction of sediment. The concentration of Cd, Cu,
Zn, Pb and Fe increased with the increase of sediment fraction size. From normalization
generally metal concentration in the sediment was much influenced by natural process.
Sediment ranged from coarse sand to finer sand according to the distance from the shore.
Skewness value for all stations is negative. Besides sediment range from poorly sorted to
moderately sorted. The data obtained provides a better understanding as well as proper
monitoring of pollution level in South China Sea.
