SPATIAL VARIATION OF Zn GEOCHEMICAL FRACTIONS IN THE SURFACE SEDIMENTS OF THE STRAITS OF MALACCA: NATURAL OR ANTHROPOGENIC?

Total concentrations of Zn in the sediments of the offshore and intertidal areas of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia were recently reported in the literaturs. However, total concentrations of metals in the sediment samples do not reflect the portion or carrier phase which is attributable to anthropogenic activities and those of natural origins. In this work, geochemical fraction of Zn in the sediments of the same areas was studied and the potential use of CV as an indicator of Zn pollution was determined. The geochemical study by using sequential extraction technique revealed that nonresistant fraction of the offshore and intertidal sediments (summation of ‘easily or freely leachable and exhangeable (EFLE)’, ‘acid-reducible’ and ‘oxidisable-organic’) covered about 30% and 48% of total zinc concentrations, respectively, in the sediments while most of the total zinc concentrations (offshore: 70%; intertidal: 52%) found in the sediments could be mostly due to natural origins (nonresistant fraction). Thus, the Zn levels in the Straits of Malacca should not pose a risk to the living organisms. Based on Spearman’s correlation coefficients, the source of Zn contamination in the Straits of Malacca was mainly contributed by the intertidal coastal area rather than offshore area. The present study also indicated the coefficient of variation can be used as a potential indicator of total summation of geochemical Zn concentrations in the coastal sediment but of different geochemical of Zn needs further validation.