Marine pollution pattern of Skagerrak and Kattegat - a geostatistical evaluation

A geostatistical analysis was made on the areal distribution pattern of ext racted heavy metals in surface sediments of the Skagerrak and Kattegat. Nor malisation was done on heavy metal concentrations with respect to content o f organic carbon at 112 stations. Kriging has been applied to determine the spatial distribution pattern of contaminated suspension load. The statisti cal treatment of the data included variogram analysis and cross-validation in order to reveal the spatial variability over the study area. The variogr ams clearly indicate spatial dependency and it is demonstrated that the sta tistical range of correlation is comparatively large. This implies that eve n with a wide-spaced sampling grid, a geostatistical approach is applicable in the marine environment. Results presented in the form of gridded maps, in association with kriging standard deviations, describe the spreading eff ects over a comparatively large marine area. A geostatistical approach usin g kriging shows to be an effective tool for extracting spatial patterns nee ded when analysing marine pollution patterns in the Kattegat and Skagerrak.