TITLE:
Heavy Metals Nickel and Chromiumin Sediments in the Juru River, Penang, Malaysia
AUTHORS:
A. A. Idriss, A. K. Ahmad
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Metals; Sediments; Sequential Extraction; ICP-MS
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.4 No.11,
November
22,
2013
ABSTRACT: Study was
conducted to determine the concentrations of (Ni) and (Cr) in sediment and to
investigate the effect pH and organic matters on concentrations of nickel and
chromium in sediment at Juru River, Penang, Malaysia. The sequential extraction
procedure was used based on defined fractions: exchangeable, acid reduction,
oxidation and residual. The concentrations of Ni and Cr in residual fraction
were higher than the other fractions. In non-residual fractions, the concentration
of heavy metals in organic matter fraction was much higher than other fractions
(6.63 ± 3.90 μg/g-1 dry weight ) for nickel and (6.44 ± 2.10 μg/g-1 dry weight) for chromium. The pH of the sediment in all sites was acidic. The
mean of total concentrations of Ni and Cr was 38.21 and 24.92 μg/g-1 dry weight, respectively. Results of organic
matter analysis showed that the percentage of organic matter present in
sediment samples varied throughout the river and all sites of sediments were
ranged from 7.10% to 16.20%. Comparison
between sampling sites using one-way analysis of variance showed that there
were significant differences for Ni (P P > 0.05) in changeable fraction. At
acid reduction, oxidation and residual fractions, there were significant
differences for the two metals (P P P > 0.05). Analysis of pH and percentage of organic
matter present in sediment conclude that Ni and Cr were not strongly correlated
at oxidation fraction.