Distributions of heavy metal in the surface sediments of mangrove from west coast of Peninsular Malaysia

A study is carried out on the concentrations of heavy metal of arsenic (As), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) present in surface sediments from 10 locations throughout west coast Malaysia. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) method was used to determine element concentrations in the entire samples. Samples were dried and crushed to powdery form before preparation for INAA and AAS. As calibration and quality control procedures, blank samples, standard reference material IAEA-Soil-7 and SL-1 were analyzed same conditions as the samples. The mean concentrations of As, Cu, Pb and Zn on sediment samples ranged from 8.75 to 44.60, 5.70 to 69.45, 13.16 to 34.52 and 34.17 to 348.10 mg/kg respectively. The enrichment factor value of sediments varied from 0.21 – 9.18. Degree of contamination (Cd) and modified degree of contamination (mCd) of all the heavy metal fall in the range between 2.81 – 7.74 and 0.70 – 1.94 respectively. Sediments of the Juru (L5) are contaminated by Zn, while the sediment from Lukut (L8) and Kampung Panchor (L6) was heavily contaminated by As

Rare earth element (REE) in surface mangrove sediment by instrumental neutron activation analysis

A study is carried out on the concentrations of rare earth element (REE) elements present in surface mangrove sediments from 10 locations throughout west coast Malaysia. In carrying out the analysis, the best and most convenient method being the instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Samples were obtained, dried, crushed to powdery form and samples prepared for INAA. All the samples for analysis were weighted approximately 150 mg for short irradiation and 200 mg for long irradiation time. As calibration and quality control procedures, blank samples, standard reference material SL-1 were then irradiated with thermal neutron flux of 4 × 1012 cm−2 s−1 at the MINT TRIGA Mark II research reactor which operated at 750 kW by using a pneumatic transport facility. The REE elements of surface sediment samples in this study are Dy, Sm, Eu,Yb, Lu, Tb, La and Ce. It was found that the level of concentrations of all the REE elements varies in the range (0.35–117.4 mg/kg). The geochemical behavior of REEs in surface sediments and normalized pattern (chondrite and shale) has been studied. The degree of sediments contaminations were computed using an enrichment factor. The results showed that the enrichment factor varied in the range (0.75–6.75)