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Vertical distribution and contamination assessment of heavy metals in sediment cores of ship breaking area of Bangladesh

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Abstract

Vertical heavy metal profiling reflects the history of the deposition of metals and helps to understand the characteristics of accumulation in various layers of the sediment. Nevertheless, no previous studies in Bangladesh had focused on the vertical distribution of heavy metals in core sediments. In this study, vertical distribution, contamination level and potential ecological risks of six heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Ni, Mn) from the core sediment of ship breaking were assessed and compared with the non-ship breaking area of Bangladesh. The concentration (µg/g) of heavy metals in the 0–10 cm (surface), 10–20 cm (middle) and 20–30 cm (bottom) of sediment cores was as follows, respectively: Zn (35.54–100.68, 37.27–258.02, 42.78–66.45); Cu (16.38–75.25, 30.64–92.02, 34.99–52.98); Pb (4.84–132.08, BDL–204.48, BDL–23.51); Cr (14.57–42.13, 25.31–42.71, 15.26–36.34); Ni (4.02–42.23, 4.94–43.70, 4.40–43.13); Mn (198.74–764.16, 257.77–980.50, 255.62–856.44). The heavy metal content of core sediment from the shipbreaking region was substantially higher than that of non-shipbreaking area. Except for Ni, heavy metal content was highest in the middle layer, followed by the upper and lower layers of the sediment core. Contamination exponents such as enrichment factor, contamination factor and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) revealed contamination by Zn, Cu and Pb while potential ecological risk factor (\(E_{r}^{i}\)) and risk index suggested low ecological risk by studied heavy metals except for Pb. Correlation matrix, cluster analysis and principal component analysis indicated that all studied heavy metals could have similar anthropogenic origins.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) for providing necessary instrumental facilities for heavy metal analysis. The authors thank As−Ad Ujjaman Nur for his assistance during this study. Insights from anonymous reviewer have greatly improved the manuscript.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Mohammad Belal Hossain and Md. Milon Sarker have contributed equally.

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  1. Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali, 3814, Bangladesh

    Mohammad Belal Hossain, Umme Hani Runu & Md. Milon Sarker

  2. Soil and Environment Laboratories, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dhaka, 1205, Bangladesh

    Md. Kamal Hossain & Afroza Parvin

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MBH contributed to conceptualization, design, supervision, visualization, writing–review and editing; UHR done investigation and methodology; MMS contributed to data analysis, writing–original draft, review and editing; MKH helped in methodology and resources.

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Hossain, M.B., Runu, U.H., Sarker, M.M. et al. Vertical distribution and contamination assessment of heavy metals in sediment cores of ship breaking area of Bangladesh. Environ Geochem Health 43, 4235–4249 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00919-w

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