Estimation of pollution indices and hazard evaluation from trace elements concentration in coastal sediments of Kerala,
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Bulletin of the National Research Centre
Open Access
RESEARCH
Estimation of pollution indices and hazard evaluation from trace elements concentration in coastal sediments of Kerala, Southwest Coast of India V. Vineethkumar1, V. V. Sayooj1, K. P. Shimod2 and V. Prakash1*
Abstract Background: The environment is always subjected to exposure from different natural and anthropogenic sources of trace elements. The excessive intake of these trace elements may become toxic and cause health disorders to the people when the concentration exceeds certain threshold limits. The measurement of trace elements concentration in general and toxic trace elements concentration in particular is important for the assessment and prediction of risk to the environment and public. Distribution of trace elements in various environmental matrices depends on the nature of the element itself and the site-specific characteristics such as type of the matrices and its physicochemical parameters. In view of these aspects, an attempt is made to assess the concentration of trace elements and pollution indices in the sediment samples collected from the coastal belt of Kerala and possible conclusions were drawn. Results: The results of pollution indices clearly indicate the moderate level of trace elements contamination in the coastal belts of Kerala. Significant correlations were observed between the concentration of trace elements and physicochemical parameters of the sediments. Conclusion: Most of the trace elements enrichment in the coastal belt is due the crustal materials or natural weathering process and atmospheric deposition. The investigation revealed the sources of most of the elements present in the coastal belt of Kerala are lithogenic such as weathering and atmospheric deposition. Keywords: Trace elements, Pollution indices, ICP-MS, Coastal Kerala Background In recent years, the environment is highly polluted due to the increase in the population pressure on land, industrialization, use of fertilizers and other man-made activities on the ecosystem. The trace elements discharged by various human activities will contaminate the environmental matrices such as air, water, soil, sediment, etc., and further they settle down in soil and sediment. The trace elements accumulation and enrichment in soil and sediment *Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Studies and Research in Physics, Payyanur College, Edat, Kannur, Kerala 670327, India Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
increase enormously when time progresses and leads to contamination of the adjacent agricultural areas, food crops, and aquatic systems. The quality of life can only be improved by the availability of good water, soil and air from the environment. However, undesired changes in the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of the different environmental matrices have created a tremendous threat to the people. The impacts of trace elements accumulation and enrichment have been paid more attention because of their p
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