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Mercury contamination in the estuaries and coastal sediments of the Strait of Malacca

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Abstract

Sediment is a great indicator for assessing coastal mercury contamination. This work profiled the magnitude of mercury pollution in the tropical estuaries and coastal sediments of the Strait of Malacca. Mercury was extracted through the ultrasound-assisted mercury extraction method and analyzed using the flow injection mercury system. The mean concentration of mercury in the sediment samples was 61.43 ± 23.25 μg/kg, ranging from 16.55 ± 0.61 to 114.02 ± 1.54 μg/kg. Geoaccumulation index revealed that a total of 13 % of sampling sites were moderately enriched with mercury. The northern part of the Strait of Malacca had the highest mean mercury (Hg) concentration (76.36 ± 27.25 μg/kg), followed by the southern (64.59 ± 16.09 μg/kg) and central (39.33 ± 12.91 μg/kg) parts. Sediment mercury concentration in the current study was lower than other regions like Japan, China, Indian, east Mediterranean, and Taiwan. When compared to the Canadian interim marine and freshwater sediment, China’s soil interim environmental guidelines, mercury contamination in the Strait of Malacca was found to be below these permissible limits. Sediment organic matter content was found to have significant correlation with sediment mercury concentration. This study could provide the latest benchmark of mercury pollution and prove beneficial to future pollution studies in relation to monitoring works in tropical estuaries and coastal sediments.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS, project no. FRGS/1/11/STWN/UPM/02/32) from the Department of Higher Education Malaysia and Research University Grant Scheme (RUGS, project no. 03-02-1744RU) from Universiti Putra Malaysia. L. J. Looi would like to acknowledge the support from MyBrain15 awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) for her study. The authors would also like to extend their sincere gratitude to Ng Tzu Shan, Looi Bean Keat, Mohd. Yusree Ayub, Lim Wan Ying, Farhah Amalya Ismail, Lim Ai Phing, Noorain Mohd Isa, Hazzeman Haris, and Zairi Ismail for their help during the sample collection and mercury determination in the field and laboratory. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers who gave their valuable comments prior to publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Forensics Research Centre, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Ley Juen Looi & Ahmad Zaharin Aris

  2. Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Fatimah Md. Yusoff

  3. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Zailina Hashim

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  1. Ley Juen Looi
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  2. Ahmad Zaharin Aris
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Correspondence to Ahmad Zaharin Aris.

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Looi, L.J., Aris, A.Z., Yusoff, F.M. et al. Mercury contamination in the estuaries and coastal sediments of the Strait of Malacca. Environ Monit Assess 187, 4099 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-4099-5

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