Heavy metal distribution in different size fraction of sediment from Kemaman nearshore environment

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.