Sm. Tang et al., ANALYSIS OF SINGAPORE MARINE-SEDIMENTS BY PIXE, Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms, 138, 1998, pp. 1013-1017
Thirty eight core samples of sediment were collected from seven coasta
l zones around the Island of Singapore for the purpose of surveying th
e concentrations of metallic pollutants in the marine sediments. The s
amples were analyzed by means of the Proton-Induced X-ray Emission (PI
XE) technique to obtain the concentrations of the trace metals Cr, Mn,
Ni, Cu, Zn, As and Pb. Some of them were also analyzed with the X-ray
Fluorescence (XRF) technique to determine the concentration of Sn. Th
e survey provided valuable information about the levels of marine poll
ution in the various coastal zones and shed light on the major source
of some of the pollutants. Interesting concentration depth profiles of
the metallic pollutants in sediments were also obtained from a number
of the core samples collected. The concentration depth profiles of Cu
, Zn, Sn and Pb obtained from one of the core samples exhibited a stee
p decrease at a depth of 10 cm, implying that a sudden increase of the
se pollutants occurred some 20-33 years ago. (C) 1998 Published by Els
evier Science B.V.