Rahimah, Abdullah (2012) Heavy metals distribution in water, sediment and aquatic species from Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Perak, Malaysia / Rahimah Abdullah. Masters thesis, University of Malaya.
Abstract
The concentration of five heavy metals, namely copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr) were determined in water, sediment, fish, cockles and shrimp collected from eight selected sites in Larut River and Sangga Besar River which are located in the state of Perak. Water quality parameters such as pH, DO, temperature and salinity were monitored. The results were then compared to the recommended Marine Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (MWQS) and DOE Water Quality Criteria for Malaysia. The Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques were used to determine concentrations of heavy metals in the samples. The Standard Reference Materials SRM 1646 Estuarine Sediment, SRM-BCR Fluka-estuarine water and SRM -DORM-3-Fish protein from the National Research Council Canada, were used to check the accuracy and precision. Data showed a good agreement witqh the certified values for the elements with more than 80 % recovery. The results of the heavy metals in sediment were assessed against the Dutch Criteria for Assessment of Soil Pollutants. The values found in this study were significantly lower than the standard values. The tissue analysis in fish revealed that liver accumulated the highest levels of Heavy Metals. Analysis in cockles indicates that the accumulation of heavy metals are in the order of Zn>Cu>Cr>Pb>Cd. In prawns species of Penaeus merguiensis, the results showed that zinc has the highest concentrations followed by copper, chromium, lead and cadmium. The accumulation of copper and zinc in prawn’s head of Penaeus merguiensis were found high compared to shell and muscle. However the concentration level of the elements reported in this study does not constitute a risk factor for human health and appear to be below the permissible limits issued by FAO.
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