Abstract
In order to monitor lead pollution from urban areas to coral reefs in the Gulf of Thailand, linear and two-dimensional distributions of Pb in corals from Khang Khao Island, Thailand and Rukan-sho, Okinawa, were analysed with high resolution. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was applied to measure Pb content in coral skeletons using synthetic Pb standards in a CaCO3 matrix as calibration materials. Linear and two-dimensional ablation schemes were applied to determine the Pb content in corals collected from Khang Khao Island, Thailand and Rukan-sho, Okinawa. The coral skeleton was ablated by Nd:YAG laser (wavelength of 266 nm, beam diameter of 155 µm, scanning speed of 10 µm s−1 and frequency of 10 Hz) along the growth axis, and ion counts for 208Pb were normalised to 42Ca. Lead content in the corals was determined using a calibration curve obtained from the synthetic Pb standards (0–141 µg g−1). The linear ablation track of the sample from Khang Khao showed over 30 peaks of Pb with an average value of 3.55 µg g−1, while Pb content in the coral from Rukan-sho showed relatively small variation with an average value of 0.132 µg g−1. Two-dimensional imaging of Pb in the coral skeletons was also carried out for an area of 7 × 20 mm on the sample from Khang Khao. The distribution patterns of Pb and Ba in the Thailand coral co-varied. These observations from the linear and imaging analyses suggest discontinuous inputs of anthropogenic Pb from rivers to the Gulf of Thailand.
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Acknowledgments
We thank S. Sirirattanachai and T. Ono for coral sampling in Thailand and Okinawa, and R. Bogan for critical reading the manuscript. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for the valuable comments on the manuscript. This paper was completed as an exchange programme between the University of Sheffield and the University of the Ryukyus. This work was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science through JSPS (No. 20510027), the Ryukyu Daigaku Foundation and the University of Sheffield.
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Tanaka, K., Ohde, S., Sakaguchi, A. et al. Pb/Ca in Thailand Coral Determined by LA-ICP-MS: Anthropogenic Pb Input of River Run-off into a Coral Reef from Urbanised Areas. Water Air Soil Pollut 211, 211–218 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0293-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0293-4