Date of Award

1-1-2000

Thesis Type

Masters

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Institute for Advanced Studies

Department

-

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

In order to assess the level of oil pollution in the cockle culture areas along the Straits of Malacca, water, sediment and cockle samples were collected from the culture beds of Kuala Sepetang and Kuala Selangor, two of the largest cockle producing areas of Malaysia. The samples were analysed for petrogenic hydrocarbons by employing a spectrofluorometric technique which measures the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in oil. The content of aliphatic straight chain hydrocarbons were measured by using gas chromatography􀀐mass spectrometry (GCMS) which also allowed for the estimation of carbon preference indices and hence providing a means of estimating biogenic/petrogenic inputs. Petrogenic hydrocarbons were observed in all the environmental samples collected from the two sites as evidenced by the spectrofluorometric measurements. The level of hydrocarbons in water at both sites ranged from 30.82 µg/L to 92.59 µg/L Seligi crude oil equivalents (1.195-3.075 chrysene equivalents). The highest level of hydrocarbons in Kuala Sepetang was recorded at Station 2: 92.59 µg/L and 3.075 µg/L expressed as Seligi crude oil and chrysene equivalents respectively. The levels of petrogenic hydrocarbons in surficial sediments were higher than those in the water column by three orders of magnitude, ranging from 2.42-45.50 µg/g Seligi crude oil equivalents (0.092-1.614 µgig chrysene equivalents). Relatively higher levels of petrogenic hydrocarbons were found in Kuala Sepetang (average: 30.37 µg/g Seligi crude oil equivalents) compared to Kuala Selangor (average: 12.49 µgig Seligi crude oil equivalents). Concentrations of petrogenic hydrocarbons in cockle tissues were noted to be in the same order of magnitude to those found in the sediments. Petrogenic hydrocarbons in cockle tissues ranged from 4.427 to 38.48 µg/g Seligi crude oil equivalent (0.176-1.514 µg/g chrysene equivalent) for the two sites. However, unlike the levels in the sediments there were no significant differences between the average concentration of petrogenic hydrocarbons in Kuala Sepetang (average: 17. 75 µg/g Seligi crude oil equivalent) and that found in Kuala Selangor ( 16.45 µg/g Seligi crude oil equivalent).

Initial

snms

Additional Information

Dissertation (M.A) -- Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti Malaya, 2001.

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