Assessment of metal contaminants along the Bay of Bengal - Multivariate pollution indices

Velmurugan Puliankurichi Mookan; Rajesh Kumar Machakalai; Sundararajan Srinivasan; Sivaraj Sigamani; Prabhu Kolandhasamy; Palingamoorthy Gnanamoorthy; Meivelu Moovendhan; Ramachandran Srinivasan; Ashraf Atef Hatamleh; Munirah Abdullah Ai-Dosary

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115008

Assessment of metal contaminants along the Bay of Bengal - Multivariate pollution indices

Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Jul:192:115008. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115008. Epub 2023 May 12.

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.
² Centre for Ocean Research, Col. Dr. Jeppiaar Research Park, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India. Electronic address: sivabiotech007@gmail.com.
³ Department of Marine Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
⁵ Centre for Ocean Research, Col. Dr. Jeppiaar Research Park, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.
⁶ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 37182243
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115008

Abstract

The spatial concentration of heavy metals (Mn, Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Cd, and Pb) was studied in coastal areas (n = 9) including water (n = 27) and sediment (n = 27) in the Palk Bay, India to understand the metal pollution due to prevailing natural and anthropogenic activities. Pollution indices like metal index (MI), geoaccumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI) and potential ecological risk (PER) were calculated based on the background/reference value. The values of MI index indicated that water was free of metals, whereas Igeo, CF, PLI and PER indicated moderate contamination of sediment in monsoon. Cadmium concentrations were the highest irrespective of the indices (Igeo: 0.04-1.42, Cf: 0.36-0.74, PLI: 0.36-0.74, and PER: 76.89-143.36) indicating moderate pollution. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) affirmed that Cd was positively correlated with stations indicating anthropogenic sources of Cd contamination.

Keywords: Contamination; Heavy metals; Palk Bay; Pollution indices; Urbanization.

MeSH terms

Bays
Cadmium / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Geologic Sediments
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Risk Assessment
Water / analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Cadmium
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Metals, Heavy
Water