ASSESSMENT OF SEDIMENT QUALITY COLLECTED FROM TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN NATIONAL PARK, SABAH

Assessment of source and sediment quality had been done by analysis of sediments collected from Tuanku Abdul Rahman National Park. Enrichment factor (EF), pollution load index (PLI) and geo-accumulation index (I geo ) has been used to identify the sources of pollution, degree of contamination and sediment quality, respectively. EF value £ 2 will indicate the natural or lithogenic origin of metal whereas EF value > 2 indicated the anthropogenic source of metal pollution.  PLI is providing information related to the degree of overall contamination in a particular area and I geo values will indicate the status of sediment quality level with seven grades ranging from background to extremely polluted. Elemental analysis of marine sediment samples were performed using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Results from Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park of Sabah indicated that most of the elements are consider to be from lithological or natural origin with EF values of less than 2 except for the As (10 stations), Cr (3 stations), Lu (5 stations), Mg (2 stations), Sb (6 stations) and U (3 stations). For the sediment quality, most of the study area can be categorized as unpolluted for most of the elements (I geo value < 2) except for As, Cr, Lu, Mg, Sb and U. A few study areas were slightly low contaminated with As, Cr, Lu, Mg, Sb and U. The contamination of the As, Cr, Lu, Mg, Sb and U of that study area can be categorized as moderate with I geo values ranging from 1 to 2. The PLI values will indicate the degree of contamination base on calculation of the 25 elements. The results of PLI values of sediment are ranging from 0.93 to 1.47 indicating that Tunku Abdul Rahman Park does not require to perform drastic rectification measures for the screening of the elements (PLI < 50). The data for EF, I geo and PLI obtained in this study become vital information and these data can be used as baseline and comparison for future study. Overall assessment of the sediment quality at Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park showed a few elements (As, Cr, Lu, Mg, Sb and U) were slightly enriched while most of the elements were similar to background values .