ABSTRACT

Environmental degradation in estuaries may lead to a serious threat to marine life and may trigger human health risk with the help of the food web. This study was conducted to evaluate the concentration, distribution, sources, pollution status, and potential risk of contamination of five trace metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Fe) in estuarine surface sediment of ten different estuaries with their physicochemical parameters in the Kelantan State of Malaysia. The heavy metal concentrations in the estuarine surface sediment differ from one estuary to another following the order of: Fe (39.08%) > Zn (37.02 μg/g) > Pb (20.78 μg/g) > Cu (6.68 μg/g) > Cd (3.69 μg/g). The cluster analysis and source identification study indicated that almost all the estuaries are more or less polluted by anthropogenic activities. The Geo-accumulation index (Igeo) showed that all estuaries of the Kelantan Coastline were moderately polluted by Fe and strongly polluted by Cd which was also confirmed by enrichment factor (EF) and integrated potential ecological risk value (RI) assessment. The higher Pollution load index (PLI) values (PLI>1) revealed that all estuaries were polluted by studied trace metal contamination at a different level of magnitude.

摘要

河口的环境恶化可能对海洋生物造成严重威胁，并可能在食物网的帮助下引发人类健康风险。这项研究旨在评估十个不同河口的河口表层沉积物中五种微量金属（镉，铜，铅，锌和铁）的浓度，分布，来源，污染状况和潜在的污染风险，并对其理化参数进行分析。马来西亚吉兰丹州。河口表层沉积物中的重金属浓度从一个河口到另一个河口依次为：Fe（39.08％）> Zn（37.02μg/ g）> Pb（20.78μg/ g）> Cu（6.68μg/ g）>镉（3.69μg/ g）。聚类分析和源识别研究表明，几乎所有河口或多或少都受到人为活动的污染。地质累积指数（Igeo）表明，吉兰丹海岸线的所有河口均受到铁的中度污染和镉的严重污染，富集因子（EF）和综合潜在生态风险值（RI）评估也证实了这一点。较高的污染负荷指数（PLI）值（PLI> 1）表明，所有河口均受到研究的痕量金属污染的影响，污染程度不同。