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(38-24) Heavy metal pollutants in sediments from selected marine tidal creeks along the Kenyan coast. Muohi, Ann*,1, Onyari, John1, 1 university of Nairobi, zoology P.O Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya ABSTRACT- Mombasa Island is situated at latitude 4.050S and longitude 39.650E along the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. Industrial and domestic activities on the island as well as in the mainland, influence the marine tidal creeks on this coast. Sediment samples from various stations within the three sites were collected between the months of January and July 2001. 117 sediment samples were digested using hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide, Copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) elemental concentrations were assessed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The method of analysis was validated using IAEA/SOIL-7 International Atomic Energy Agency certified reference material. Cu concentrations ranged from 1.9 ppm to 228.9 ppm, Zn ranged from 8.2 ppmto 3199.2 ppm, Pb ranged from 7.7 ppm to 164.6 ppm while Cd ranged from 0.3 ppm to 83.9 ppm. Notably high elemental concentrations were observed from stations in Makupa creek which is part of Port Reitz creek systems. There was significant variation in the elemental concentrations between and within sites. All p-values with respect to these variations were < 0.05. The sites under investigation are thus influenced by potential pollutants in varying orders of magnitude and can be classified from the most influenced to the least influenced as follows, Makupa creek, Mtwapa creek, Port Reitz creeks (Including Mwache creek and the main port basin) and Shirazi creek. Key words: copper, zinc, lead, cadmium |
