HYDROCARBON POLLUTION IN THE SEDIMENT OF SOME MALAYSIAN COASTAL AREAS

A study was carried out at some selected coastal areas of Malaysia to determine the present status of hydrocarbon pollution Five sites were chosen and these include Pulau Langkawi and Pulau Ketam in the west co ast Tanjung Piai in the south and Pulau Tioman and Kemaman in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia The levels of total hydrocarbon in the s ediments are found to vary from 18.2 to 847.4 mg kg(-1) with sediments from Pulau Langkawi and Tanjung Piai recorded the highest values (691 .2 to 847.4 mg kg(-1)) while Kemaman and Pulau Ketam recorded the lowe st values (18.2 to 59.8 mg kg(-1)). It was noted that these values are related not only to possible sources of hydrocarbon but also to the p hysical characteristics of the sediments analysed. Sandy sediment gene rally contains less hydrocarbon than clayey sediment Further analyses of the sediment extracts indicate that the sources of tile hydrocarbon pollution are predominantly petrogenic with significant contribution from biogenic hydrocarbon.