Geochemical study on marine surficial sediments along the east coast of Penisular Malaysia

Abstract

Twenty-four marine surficial sediment samples were collected along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, in southern South China Sea during the Ehpedisi Pelayaran Saint(fik Kebangsaan (EPSK) 2016 in August 2016. The sediments were analyzed for heavy metals, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd contents to determine the areal distribution of the metals along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia and to associate the relationship between heavy me�al concentration in surficial sediment and the grain size of the sediment. The contents of studied metals were measured from the 63 µm fraction of the dried sediments and analyzed using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry after the closed acid digestion process. Results showed that the ranges of heavy metals concentration in the sediments are as follows: 2.127µg/g dry weight to 38.7µg/g dry weight (Cu), l 1.9µg/g dry weight to lOOµg/g dry weight (Zn), 12.99µg/g dry weight to 33.9µg/g dry weight (Pb) and 0.03µg/g dry weight to 0.20µg/g dry weight.