Abstract
The Strait of Malacca receives heavy metal from the mainland into the marine environment. Therefore, five sediment core samples were collected by gravity core sampler during the 2019 Malacca Straits Scientific Expedition to assess the concentration of selected heavy metals, namely copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg). The concentration of metals in sediments was determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) after the Teflon Bomb digestion method with mixed acid. The accuracy test for the procedure was examined by analysis of Standard References Materials (SRM) NIST 1646a. The mean concentrations of metals in the sediment cores ranged 8.96–15.6 µg/g dry weight (Cu), 34.8–97.9 µg/g dry weight (Zn), 0.07–0.15 µg/g dry weight (Cd), 20.6–47.9 µg/g dry weight (Pb), 3.15–9.50 µg/g dry weight (As), and 0.03–0.11 µg/g dry weight (Hg). The results also revealed that the average heavy metal concentration in the core collected in the northern region of the Strait of Malacca is highly concentrated with Zn and Pb compared to the southern part. The index of geoaccumulation (Igeo) was applied to distinguish the pollution status and conclude that the area that was not polluted with studied metals except slightly contaminated by Pb and As. In addition, this metal deposition can influence other factors, such as naturally influenced process input and other anthropogenic factors. In a nutshell, this study can evaluate the risk of metal pollution and the effect of anthropogenic activities on the aquatic environment because most heavy metals become toxic in the environment, especially when it is highly concentrated in sediments.
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Acknowledgements
This research was conducted from the Ministry of Higher Education funding under the Talent and Publication Enhancement Research Grant, TAPE-RG 55188. First, the authors wish to acknowledge their gratitude to the anonymous reviewers who gave free time and effort to make constructive recommendations that enhanced the value of this manuscript. The authors also wish to thank the Centre of Research and Field Services (CRAFS) for providing the RV Discovery vessel for the sampling activities.
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Baharudin, W.N.I.M. et al. (2023). Heavy Metal Pollution in the Core Sediment of Strait of Malacca. In: Çiner, A., et al. Recent Research on Environmental Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Soil Science, Paleoclimate, and Karst. MedGU 2021. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42917-0_10
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