Vertical Profile of Heavy Metals Concentration in Core Sediments of Sungai Muar, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Two core sediment samples were collected along Sungai Muar, Johor. The down core variation in heavy metals concentrations (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg) and sediment characteristic were determined by using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Particle Size Analyzer, respectively. The result shows the average concentration (ppm) of selected heavy metals in the S4 core followed the order Zn (54.05) >Pb (16.33) > Cu (9.63) >As (3.43) > Cd (0.054) > Hg (0.031). For S5 core sediment, the average concentration for Zn, Pb, Cu, As, Hg and Cd were 59.75, 23.77, 15.04, 3.57, 0.034 and 0.10, respectively. The EF result shows, all the selected heavy metals from S4 and S5 core sediment were came from natural sources (EF<2). For index of geoaccumulation (Igeo), the S4 and S5 core were unpolluted by Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Hg, whereas the Aswas in uncontaminated to moderately contaminated status for both core. The average of pollution load values (PLI) was concluded that S5 core was polluted by selected heavy metals, but not in S4. The result of sediment characteristics shows average of mean size value for S4 core sediment was 7.58Ø and was higher than S5 cores, 6.73Ø.