Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Determination and speciation of heavy metals in sediments of the Juru River, Penang, Malaysia

  • Published:
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Juru River flows through largely urbanized areas and is grossly polluted by domestic wastes and discharges from pig farms. Other than carrying highly polluting organic materials, these wastes are also contaminated with heavy metals. To ascertain the extent of heavy metal pollution in the river, total and non-residual concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn and Fe in sediment samples collected along the river were determined. The results indicate that both the total and non-residual metal concentrations in sediments can successfully be used to identify heavy metal pollution sources. The speciation of Zn, Mn and Fe in the sediment samples were investigated using a sequential leaching technique which identifies the elements among six operationally defined host fractions: (1) exchangeable, (2) carbonate and surface-associated, (3) easily reducible, (4) moderately reducible, (5) bound to organic matter and sulphides and (6) residual. The results indicate that Zn is mainly associated with the reducible fractions. Zn and Fe found in the moderately reducible fraction are significantly correlated, indicating that iron oxides is the preferred host phase by Zn.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Basaham, A. S.: 1988,Elemental Partitioning in Marine Sediments, Ph. D. Thesis. University of Liverpool, U.K.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chester, R. and Voutsinou, F. G.: 1991, ‘The Initial Assessment of Trace Metal Pollution on Coastal Sediments’,Mar. Pollut. Bull. 12, 84–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chester, R., Kudoja, W. M., Thomas, A. and Towner, J.: 1985, ‘Pollution Reconnaissance in Stream Sediments using Non-residual Trace Metals’,Environ. Pollut. Ser. B. 10, 213–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chester, R., Murphy, K. J. T., Towner, J. and Thomas, A.: 1986, ‘The Partitioning of Elements in Crust-derived Marine Aerosols’,Chem. Geol.,54, 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chester, R., Thomas, A., Lin, F. J., Basaham, A. S. and Jacinto, G.: 1988, ‘The Solid State Speciation of Copper in Surface Water Particulates and Oceanic Sediments’,Mar. Chem. 24, 261–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devi, S.: 1986, ‘Heavy Metal Levels In Some Malaysian Shellfish’,Fisheries Bulletin No.44, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Malaysia.

    Google Scholar 

  • DOE: 1977,Report on Water Pollution Control: Juru River Basin, Department of Environment, Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, Malaysia.

    Google Scholar 

  • DOE-USM: 1992,Development of Water Quality Criteria and Standards Classification-Juru River, Vol. VIII. Draft Final Report, Department of Environment, Malaysia, Innovation and Consultancy Centre, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

  • Förstner, U. and Wittman, G. T.W.: 1983,Metal Pollution in the Aquatic Environment, 2nd edn., Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 486.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grieve, D. and Fletcher, K.: 1977, ‘Interactions between Zinc and Suspended Sediments in the Fraser River Estuary, British Columbia’,Estua. Coast. Mar. Sci. 5, 415–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hem, J. D.: 1977, ‘Reactions of Metal Ions at Surfaces of Hydrous Iron Oxide’.Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 41, 527–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardo, R., Barrado, E., Perez, L. and Vega, M.: 1990, ‘Determination and Speciation of Heavy Metals in Sediments of the Pisuerga River’,Wat. Res. 24, 373–379.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rauret, G., Rubio, R., Lopez-Sanchez, J. F. and Casassas, E.: 1988, ‘Determination and Speciation of Copper and Lead in Sediments of a Mediterranean River (River Tenes, Catalina, Spain)’,Wat. Res. 22, 479–485.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seng, C. E., Lim, P. E. and Ang, T. T.: 1987, ‘Physical-Chemical Study’ inEnvironmental Base-line Studies on the Panang Development Corporation Proposed Land Reclamation in the Prai Industrial Estate, Consultancy Report Prepared for the Penang Development Corporation.

  • Tessier, A., Campbell, P. G. C. and Bisson, M.: 1979, ‘Sequential Extraction Procudure for the Speciation of Particulate Trace Metals’,Anal. Chem. 51, 844–851.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tessier, A., Campbell, P. G. C. and Bisson, M.: 1980, ‘Trace Metal Speciation in the Yamaska and St. Francois Rivers (Quebec)’,Can. J. Earth Sci. 17, 90–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Towner, J. V.: 1984,Study of Chemical Extraction Technique Used for Elucidating the Partitioning of Trace Metals in Sediments, Ph. D. Thesis, University of Liverpool, U.K.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Science, 11800, Malysia, Penang, Malaysia

    Poh-Eng Lim & Mun-Yoon Kiu

Authors
  1. Poh-Eng Lim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mun-Yoon Kiu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lim, PE., Kiu, MY. Determination and speciation of heavy metals in sediments of the Juru River, Penang, Malaysia. Environ Monit Assess 35, 85–95 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00633708

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00633708

Keywords

Search

Navigation