Assessment Activity of 210Po and 210Pb in the Edible Tissues of Cultured Seabass (Lates calcarifer)at Peninsular Malaysia

Analysis levels of 210Po and 210Pb were determined in the edible tissue of sea bass (Lates calcarifer) from 14 cages in the west and east coast Peninsular of Malaysia. The concentrations level in fish were found varies from 1.35 ± 0.22 to 6.20 ± 0.99 Bq/kg dry weight210Po and 3.30 ± 2.69 to 51.71 ± 19.26 Bq/kg dry weight 210Pb. The level of this radionuclide was much related to the anthropogenic activities at the sampling locations neighbouring area, differences in metabolisms of fish and food intake pattern for each cage. Then the calculated daily intake value due to fish consumption was to be 7.69 mBq/d/person210Po and 35.90 mBq/d/person210Pb, which lower than those reported in others countries. In addition, the collective doses of210Po and210Pb were estimated to be 0.001mSv/year and 0.009 mSv/year, respectively. This suggests that the dose received by Malaysian due to consumption of fish is rather small, and did not deteriorate human’s health and safe for consumption

Seasonal influences on the levels of particulate metals In Kuantan River, East Coast Malaysia using principal component analysis

Principal component analysis (PCA) were performed to evaluate temporal variations of trace metals of Kuantan River waters. Water samples from 12 sampling stations were taken from downstream of the estuary towards the upstream of Kuantan River during the Northeast Monsoon (NEM) and Southwest Monsoon (SWM). Particulate metals were filtered, dried, weighed, analyzed using Teflon Bomb digestion processes and detected using ICP-MS. The metals distribution in suspended particulate matter was found influenced by monsoon seasons particularly during NEM. The PCA/FA identified six varifactors, which were responsible for 83.30% of total variance in the dataset. The PCA results showed that the main source of river water pollution is mostly due to the point sources such as domestic wastewater, wastewater treatment plants and industries as well as non-point sources namely agriculture and oil palm plantations. This study illustrates the usefulness of PCA for identification of pollution sources and understanding temporal variations in river water for effective river water management

Natural Radioistopes of Polonium and Lead in the Edible Muscle of Cultured Seabass (Lates calcarifer)

Activity levels of 210Po and 210Pb were determined in the edible tissue of seabass (Lates calcarifer) from 23 cages located in the west, south and east coasts of Peninsular Malaysia. The concentration levels of 210Po and 210Pb in fish varied from 5.10 ± 0.36 Bq/kg to 15.53 ± 5.40 Bq/kg dry weight and 7.09 ± 0.54 Bq/kg to 21.72 ± 2.64 Bq/kg dry weight, respectively. The highest concentrations of 210Po and 210Pb were found at Stations S3 and S23 due to rapid development at the upper stream. In addition, the ratio between 210Po and 210Pb shows a distinction between stations of each sampling location. The 210Po/210Pb activity ratio at the Tebrau Strait was higher than the unity value (1.04) compared to the west and east coasts of Peninsular Malaysia. Most of the samples contain slightly lower 210Po/210Pb activity ratios which are related to the high input of lead from watersheds in neighboring areas

Study of relationship between water quality parameters, selective heavy metals and radioactive elements content in rivers at Gebeng, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

This study was focused on the correlation between water quality parameters with the level of radioactive elements and heavy metals at six different sampling points of rivers. For achieving these objectives, collected data was done for Balok river and Tunggak river in dry seasons. Both of the rivers selected were located in Gebeng industrial area, Pahang, Malaysia. The physical parameters such as temperature, specific conductivity, pH, turbidity and dissolved oxygen were measured by using hydrolab. The water samples were then collected for tracing the radioactive elements and heavy metals by using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The readings obtained from both in situ and ex situ analysis was analyzed by using SPSS to know the correlation between water quality parameter, radioactive elements and heavy metals. There were significant relationships found between all water quality parameters and most heavy metals selected (lead and cadmium), except for arsenic. While, for radioactive elements, in the year 2015, there were significant relationships found between most water quality parameters and thorium, exception for uranium. However, for year 2014, there is no significant relationship observed. The findings of the study showed some of the presence of pollutants such as heavy metals and radioactive elements concentrations were reflected some of the water quality parameters at all the sampling locations. © 2019 Chemical Publishing Co. All rights reserved

Datasets on spatial and temporal distribution of heavy metals concentration in recent sediment at merang river system, Terengganu, Malaysia

Heavy metal pollution in an aquatic environment has become of the main concern to the world due to their nonbiodegradable properties, toxicity, persistence, and their ability to adsorb into food chains. With rapid industrialization and development nowadays, heavy metals are introduced continuously into the estuaries and coastal region through rivers, runoff, and land-based point sources. These heavy metals may degrade the aquatic environment and harm the living organisms and toward human indirection through secondary contact. The dataset provided is to give an overview of the spatial and temporal distribution of the heavy metals concentration in Merang River surficial sediment collected from September 2017 to July 2018, subsequently every two months dataset. Sediment samples were collected in 44 sta- tions along the river and 20 stations in the coastal area, which total up to 64 stations. Teflon Bomb closed digestion method with mixed acid was used to digest the sediments. The concentration of heavy metals in the sediment were analysed by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). The spatial distribution of heavy metals shows the effect of monsoon and wet and dry seasons in the sampling area. Thus, this dataset reveals six months of information on natural and anthropogenic sources intrusion at the Merang River and may also help in monitoring the pollution in the area

Sediment quality assessments in relation to socio-economic development in Kampung Tekek, Tioman Island, Pahang during survey in August 2015

The study to identify the sediment quality changes affected by the increasing human activities along the coastal environment in Kampung Tekek, Tioman Island has been conducted in August 2015. In total, 15 surface sediment samples were collected from three transects in the bay of Kampung Tekek to be analyzed with particle size analyzer (PSA) and loss on ignition (LOI) methods. The results demonstrates good relationship between grain size classification, sediment sorting, skewness and kurtosis which shows differences between the coarser grain and poorly sorted zone up to the finest grain and best sorted zone. However, the highest percentages of sediment composition were recorded to be sand content (23 to 64%) with a mean of 48%, followed with silt content (29 to 68%) with a mean of 43%. The total organic matter (TOM) were ranged from 4.88 to 14.15% with a mean value of 7.61%. This sediment texture contains mostly fine and medium silts could expose potent threat to the coral reefs in the bay of Kampung Tekek due to sedimentation and higher partitioning of contaminants in sediment

Isoprene hotspots at the Western Coast of Antarctic Peninsula during MASEC′16

Isoprene (C⁠5H⁠8) plays an important role in the formation of surface ozone (O3) and the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) which contributed to the climate change. This study aims to determine hourly distribution of tropospheric isoprene over the Western Coast of Antarctic Peninsula (WCAP) during the Malaysian Antarctic Scientific Expedition Cruise 2016 (MASEC′16). In-situ measurements of isoprene were taken using a custom-built gas chromatography with photoionization detector, known as iDirac. Biological parameters such as chlorophyll a (chl-a) and particulate organic carbon (POC) were compared to the in-situ isoprene measurements. Significant positive correlation was observed between isoprene and POC concentrations (r2=0.67, p<0.001), but not between isoprene and chl-a. The hotspots of isoprene over maritime Antarctic were then were investigated using NAME dispersion model reanalysis. Measurements showed that isoprene mixing ratio were the highest over region of King George Island, Deception Island and Booth Island with values of ∼5.0, ∼0.9 and ∼5.2ppb, respectively. Backward trajectory analysis showed that air masses may have lifted the isoprene emitted by marine algae. We believe our findings provide valuable data set of isoprene estimation over the under sampled WCAP

Environmental forensic study: tracing of pollution sources using environmetric technique in Balok and Tunggak Rivers near Gebeng industrial area, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

Extensive deterioration of water quality caused by the intensive land use activities in rivers and rapid response of pollutants from different sources may harm the aquatic organisms, humans, and the environment. The water quality of the Balok River is believed has been deteriorated by anthropogenic impact as a result of the industrial activities in the Gebeng industrial area. This alarming occurrence has initiated this study to investigate the main sources of pollution in two rivers near the Gebeng industrial zone. Data collection was done from two rivers namely Balok and Tunggak Rivers from 2018-2019 near Gebeng industrial area. The physicochemical parameters measured in this study were temperature, specific conductivity, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and salinity. The water samples were collected for tracing the radioactive elements and heavy metals by using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Then, the data were compared and analyzed by using environmetric analysis (cluster analysis and principal component analysis) based on the sampling site and source point. The finding from the environmetric analysis showed that the main pollutants loading in Balok and Tunggak River were Lead (first component), specific conductivity (second component), Thorium (third component), and pH (fourth component). It can be concluded that the presence of the pollutants in these two rivers were originated from both point and non-point sources which could be disquieting for the sustainable development of fisheries resources in the near future

Isoprene hotspots at the Western Coast of Antarctic Peninsula during MASEC′16

Isoprene (C5H8) plays an important role in the formation of surface ozone (O3) and the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) which contributed to the climate change. This study aims to determine hourly distribution of tropospheric isoprene over the Western Coast of Antarctic Peninsula (WCAP) during the Malaysian Antarctic Scientific Expedition Cruise 2016 (MASEC′16). In-situ measurements of isoprene were taken using a custom-built gas chromatography with photoionization detector, known as iDirac. Biological parameters such as chlorophyll a (chl-a) and particulate organic carbon (POC) were compared to the in-situ isoprene measurements. Significant positive correlation was observed between isoprene and POC concentrations (r2 = 0.67, p < 0.001), but not between isoprene and chl-a. The hotspots of isoprene over maritime Antarctic were then were investigated using NAME dispersion model reanalysis. Measurements showed that isoprene mixing ratio were the highest over region of King George Island, Deception Island and Booth Island with values of ∼5.0, ∼0.9 and ∼5.2 ppb, respectively. Backward trajectory analysis showed that air masses may have lifted the isoprene emitted by marine algae. We believe our findings provide valuable data set of isoprene estimation over the under sampled WCAP

Activity levels of po in the coastal area of Kapar, Malaysia, close to a coal-fired power plant

The activity concentration of 210Po from six different samples consisting of raw charcoal, surface sediment, rainwater (suspended solids (SSrw) and dissolved phase (Drw) and estuarine water (suspended solids (SSew) and dissolved phase (Dew)), were analyzed. The activity concentration of 210Po in solid samples was between 7.63 ± 0.67 and 744.28 ± 21.12 Bqkg-1 and in dissolved samples varied between 0.34 ± 0.03 and 86.33 ± 6.51 mBqL-1. On average, 210Po activity in SSrw sample was the highest, at nearly three times its original form (charcoal). SSew and surface sediment samples were similarly distributed between 15th March and 1st August samplings, but were relatively lower than charcoal and SSrw samples. The natural meteorological variability also enhanced 210Po distribution and dispersion to a few kilometers from the coal-fired power plant