Identification and Phytoremediation of heavy metal in sediment phase of Kuala Perlis and it effects to cockles

Abstract

Sediment and aquatic organism absorb heavy metal from surrounding and accumulate in their body tissue and its surface area. The tissue of cockles is relatively eaten by the local people as other marine organism along the area of Kuala Perlis. The sediment and cockle samples collected at four areas in Kuala Perlis were analyzed for heavy metals by using an atomic absorption spectrometry. The heavy metals that found in the sediment and cockles tissue are Ferum and Zinc. The decreasing order based on the concentration of heavy metals in sediment and cockles tissue showed that Ferum>Zinc. Therefore it can be generalized that cockles from the area of Kuala Perlis are not safe to consume in terms of these heavy metals concentration and constitute a risk for human health. Sediment that contaminated with heavy metals was planted with mangrove that collected from coastal area of Kuala Perlis. The plants and phytoremediation of the metal contaminants from the sediment were studied for a period of four weeks. The results showed that mangrove was able remove Ferum and Zinc from the contaminated soil during the period of experimentation.