Assessment of trace metal contamination in the marine sediment, seawater, and bivalves of Parangipettai, southeast coast of India

• Published in: Marine pollution bulletin Vol. 149; p. 110499
• Main Authors: Satheeswaran, Thangaraj, Yuvaraj, Purushothaman, Damotharan, Palani, Karthikeyan, Velmurugan, Jha, Dilip Kumar, Dharani, Gopal, Balasubramanian, Thangavel, Kirubagaran, Ramalingam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Adequacy; Animals; Bivalvia - chemistry; Cadmium; Chemical analysis; Coastal environments; Coastal zone; Comparative analysis; Comparative studies; Contamination; Ecology; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Factor analysis; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Guidelines value; Heavy metals; India; Lead; Marine pollution; Marine sediments; Metal concentrations; Metals; Metals, Heavy - analysis; Mollusks; Oceans and Seas; Parangipettai; Permissible level; Pollution index; Pollution indices; Seawater; Seawater - chemistry; Sediment; Sediment pollution; Sediment samplers; Sediment samples; Sediments; Shellfish; Stations; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Trace Elements - analysis; Trace metal; Trace metals; Tropical climate; Tropical environment; Tropical environments; Water analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Zinc; India; Guidelines value; Sediment; Marine pollution; Trace metal; Parangipettai; Pollution indices; Seawater; Permissible level
• ISSN: 0025-326X; 1879-3363
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110499

Industrial and domestic discharge into the coastal environment has driven us to propose an integrated approach to delineate stations contaminated with metals on the Parangipettai coast by collecting sediment and seawater samples monthly at 18 stations from 2015 to 2017. Descriptive statistics revealed that the concentrations of some metals in the sediment and seawater samples were beyond the permissible level. Further, factor analysis showed a sampling adequacy of 0.90 with high positive loading for Ni (0.94), Cd (0.91), Co (0.90), Pb (0.89), and Zn (0.87) in sediment samples. The degree of contamination by metals was evaluated using pollution indices. The results of the contamination index revealed that some stations in the study area were moderately polluted, and those of the ecological index showed that open sea was under low risk while other stations were in the moderate-to-high-risk category. The results obtained are essential to establish the reference condition for a comparative study in similar environments in the tropical regions. •Trace metals in sediment and seawater exceeded the permissible level.•Ni, Cd, Co, Pb, and Zn were the most abundant trace metals in studied sediments.•Overall trace metal flow in the present study was in the order of sediment > tissue > seawater in the coastal environment.•The ecological risk index showed open sea was under low-risk while other stations were moderate to a high-risk category.•Some metals in bivalve and tissue samples show beyond the guidelines value in which could affect the next trophic level.