Heavy metal contamination in sediments along the coast of Korea 105

Assessment of heavy metal contamination and its ecological risk in

the surface sediments along the coast of Korea
Kongtae Ra , Eun-Soo Kim , Kyung-Tae Kim , Joung-Keun Kim , Jung-Moo Lee , Jin-Young Choi

Marine Environments & Conservation Oceanographic Measurement &

Research Division, Korea Institute of Instrument Calibration Service Center,
www.cerf-jcr.org
Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST), Korea Institute of Ocean Science &
Ansan 426-744, Republic of Korea Technology (KIOST), Ansan 426-744,
ktra@kiost.ac Republic of Korea
ktkim@kiost.ac eskim@kiost.ac
jkkim@kiost.ac lejm57@kiost.ac
jychoi@kiost.ac

ABSTRACT

Ra, K., Kim, E.-S., Kim, K.-T., Kim, J.-K., Lee, J.-M., and Choi, J.-Y., 2013. Assessment of heavy metal contamination
and its ecological risk in the surface sediments along the coast of Korea. In: Conley, D.C., Masselink, G., Russell, P.E.
and OHare, T.J. (eds.), Proceedings 12th International Coastal Symposium (Plymouth, England), Journal of Coastal
Research, Special Issue No. 65, pp. 105-110, ISSN 0749-0208.
www.JCRonline.org

We studied the spatial distribution of heavy metal contamination and its ecological risk assessment in sediments from
the Korean coast. Surface sediments collected from 12 coastal zones of Korea (total 200 sediment samples) along the
west, south and east coast of Korea have been analyzed for heavy metals including Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb and
Hg using ICP-MS. Mean concentrations were 58.3 mg/kg for Cr, 10.2 mg/kg for Co, 24.3 mg/kg for Ni, 36.5 mg/kg for
Cu, 122 mg/kg for Zn, 9.1 mg/kg for As, 0.25 mg/kg for Cd, 35.0 mg/kg for Pb and 0.046 mg/kg for Hg, respectively.
Sediments sampled from heavily industrialized areas such as Shihwa, Masan, Gwangyang and Ulsan were highly
contaminated with Cu, Zn, Cd and Hg. Significantly positive correlation among metals were observed (p<0.01). This
suggests that sources of metal contamination were mainly attributed to anthropogenic inputs from surrounding
environment, especially national industrial complexes that consist of iron, steel, machinery, electronics and
petrochemical. The results of metal assessment indices indicated that the Korean coast sediments were moderately
contaminated with Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb and Hg. The mean of metal enrichment levels decreased following the order of
Cu>Hg>Cd>Zn>As>Pb>Co>Cr>Ni. Based on the comparison with sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), Cu, As and Zn
levels at more than 40% of sediment samples exceeding TEL values are likely to result in potential adverse effects on
sediment-dwelling organisms.

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Metal concentrations, total digestion of sediments, metal assessment indices,
sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), ecological risk assessment.

INTRODUCTION tissue of bivalves and exhibited detrimental effect (Ra et al.,

Heavy metal concentrations in coastal environment have been
rapidly increased by human activities because the coastal
environments are subjected to metal contamination throughout
various inputs such as natural, industrial and urban sources.
Metals released into coastal environments rapidly bind to
particulate and sink to the sediments; thus metals accumulate in
sediments. However, sediments in coastal environment are a sink
as well as possible delayed source for heavy metals into the
aquatic phase due to desorption and remobilization with changing
physiochemical conditions (Long et al., 1996; Fichet et al., 1998;
Cukrov et al., 2011; Ra et al., 2011a). Sediments constitute a
long-term contamination source to the food web (Burton, 2002).
Because sediments show less variation in time and space, they are
preferable monitoring tools to allow consistent assessment of
temporal and spatial contamination (Caccia et al., 2003).
Monitoring of metal levels in sediments are useful indicators of
anthropogenic inputs to evaluate metal contamination and to
predict influence on marine ecosystem. We have previous reported
that sediment-associated metals were highly accumulated in the
____________________
DOI: 10.2112/SI65-019.1 received 07 December 2012; accepted 06
March 2013.
Coastal Education & Research Foundation 2013
2011b; Won et al., 2012).
The Korean peninsula is surrounded by the sea on the west,
south and east sea. The coastline of west and south Korea shows
its long stretch of a Ria-type whereas the east coastlines shows
relatively smooth shape. Total length of coastline is 13.509 km.
The geological feature of the three seas are a high tidal range of 3-
10 m and wide tidal wetland bands of about 10 km in the west sea,
a tidal flux of 1-3 m and many semi-enclosed bays in the south sea
(Kim et al., 2009; Choi et al., 2011). In Korea, more than 40% of
the national population and industry is concentrated along the
coast of Korea (MOE, 2008). With the rapid and concentrated
urbanization and industrialization in coastal area since 1960s of
Korea, heavy metals are being continuously introduced to coastal
environment from a variety of sources such as discharge of
domestic sewage and industrial wastewater. Many environmental
problems including the metal contamination and ecological stress
have become a social issue. For effective environment
management and protection of coast in Korea, national laws and
policies have included marine environment management plan and
integrated coastal management plan. However, such effort was not
enough to control land-based pollution on account of excessive
input of contaminants. Many authors reported that the coastal
environments in Korea suffer strong anthropogenic pressures for

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 65, 2013

 106 Ra, et al.

metals (Hyun et al., 2007; Lee et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2009; Ra
et al., 2011a; Lim et al., 2012). Therefore, it is necessary to

Table 1. Anthropic activities near the sampling sites from

the coast of Korea.
Sampling site Area description N
West Sea
A Incheon coast Near airport and big harbor 20
B Shihwa lake Near industrial complexes 12
C Dangjin coast No special 20
D Boryung coast No special 8
E Saemangeum No special 15
F Mokpo coast No special 10
South Sea
G Gwangyang bay Near industrial complexes 13
H Masan bay Near industrial complexes 40
I Busan coast Near big harbor 10
East Sea
J Gori coast Near atomic power plant 11
K Ulsan bay Near industrial complexes 28
L Uljin coast Near atomic power plant 13

evaluate the spatial distributions of metal levels and assess

ecological risk caused by sediment-associated heavy metals along
the coast of Korea in order to protect water and sediment qualities
for metals.
The aims of this study were (1) to determine the spatial
distribution of heavy metals, (2) to evaluate the contamination
status of metals using different metal assessment indices such as
enrichment factors (EFs), geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and
pollution load index (PLI), (3) to assess ecological risk of these
metals by comparison with sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) in
Korean coastal sediments.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study area and sampling
The most influent human activities near the sampling sites are
presented in Table 1. Sampling sites includes many industrial
areas and special management zones existing small or large
harbors and national industrial complexes. Two large national
industrial complexes such as Shihwa and Banweol are located
near artificial Lake Shihwa. 13,590 of factories that consist of
iron, steel, machinery and electronics are in operation and this
occupies 32.7 % of the total factories of the national industrial
complex in Korea.
Surface sediments were collected from 12 different sites (Figure
1) of the coastal area of Korea (six in the west sea, three in the
south sea and three in the east sea) in 2010 using a van Veen grab
sampler. Top 1 cm of sediment was taken by a PE spoon and put
into the acid-cleaned PE jars. Samples were freeze-dried
(Labconco Freezone 6) and pulverized (Pulverisette 6, Fritsch Co.,
Germany).
Metal analysis
Total acid digestion with hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid and
perchloric acid (suprapur, Merck Co., Germany) was performed
according to the method described by Windom et al. (1989).
Heavy metals (Al, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb) were
measured by an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer
(ICP-MS; Thermo-Elemental X7). Hg was analyzed using
Figure 1. Map of the sampling sites along the coast of Korea.
automated direct Hg analyzer (Hydra-C, Teledyne Instruments Co.,
USA). Accuracy of metal analysis data were checked using
certified reference materials for MESS-3 marine sediment
(National Research Council, Canada). The recoveries of metal
data (N=20) using MESS-3 ranged from 98.1% for As to 103.7%
for Zn, indicating good agreement between the certified and the
measured values. All statistical analyses were performed using the
PASW package for windows (version 18.0, SPSS, Chicago, IL).
Assessment of sediment contamination
To interpret and assess the contamination status for heavy
metals in sediments, three metal assessment indices were
discussed using enrichment factor (EF), geoaccumulation index
(Igeo) and pollution load index (PLI). Apparent differences of
anthropogenic from geogenic metals are important in evaluating
the extent of metal contamination.
Enrichment factor is a useful tool in evaluating the degree of
anthropogenic metal contamination. The concentration of each
metal was normalized using conservative element, Al, and was
calculated by following equation:
EF = [Me]/[Al]sample / [Me]/[Al]background
where [Me]/[Al]sample is the concentration ratio of sample and
[Me]/[Al]background is the natural background value of deepest
sediment layer from the sampling site-B, corresponding to the
early 1900s (Ra et al., 2011a).
Five degrees of enrichment are commonly defined (Suther-land,
2000), where: EF<2 indicates deficiency to low enrichment; 2-5 is
moderate enrichment; 5-20 is significant enrichment; 20-40 is very
high enrichment; and >40 is extremely high enrichment.
The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) is defined by the following
equation (Mller, 1979).
Igeo = Log2(Cn)/1.5(Bn)
where Cn is the measured concentration in sediment sample and Bn
is the background concentration of the metals. A factor 1.5 is used
as the background matrix correction factor by lithogenic effects.

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 65, 2013

 Heavy metal contamination in sediments along the coast of Korea 107

Figure 2. Comparison of metal concentrations (mg/kg) in sediments from the Korean coast (Error bar means minimum and maximum
values for each site and dash line indicates TEL values).

The pollution load index (PLI) calculation proposed by measured in this study are shown in Figure 2. The Mean metal
Tomlinson et al. (1980) was also evaluated to assess the mutual concentrations were 58.3 (24.5-86.8) mg/kg for Cr, 10.2 (4.8-13.9)
contamination effects of the measured nine metals in this study. mg/kg for Co, 24.3 (10.0-38.4) mg/kg for Ni, 36.5 (5.1-91.2)
This index is expressed as the following equation: mg/kg for Cu, 122 (26.5-233) mg/kg for Zn, 9.1 (5.0-14.9) mg/kg
PLI = (CFCrCFCoCFNiCFCuCFZnCFAsCFCdCFPbCFHg)1/9 for As, 0.25 (0.07-1.02) mg/kg for Cd, 35.0 (21.1-56.0) mg/kg for
where CF is the contamination factor obtained by calculating Pb and 0.046 (0.009-0.133) mg/kg for Hg, respectively. The
between each metals concentration and its background value. highest concentrations of Cr (86.8 mg/kg), Ni (38.4 mg/kg), Cu
(91.2 mg/kg) and Zn (233 mg/kg) were found at site-B (artificial
Lake Shihwa).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Cd had the highest concentrations (1.02 mg/kg) in site-H
(Masan bay). The highest concentrations for Co (13.9 mg/kg), As
Metal concentrations in the Korean coast sediment (14.9 mg/kg), Pb (56.0 mg/kg) and Hg (0.133 mg/kg) were found
Table 2 shows the mean concentrations of metals at each site. at site-K (Ulsan bay). The lowest concentrations were measured at
Minimum, maximum and mean concentrations of heavy metals site-C (Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd), site-E (As), site-D (Pb) and
Table 2. Mean (SD) concentrations in sediments at 12 coastal zones of Korea.
Sites Al Cr Co Ni Cu Zn As Cd Pb Hg
% mg/kg
Korean coast (this study)
Site-A 5.51.0 48.819.3 8.02.4 17.86.5 13.6.3 63.423.7 7.62.1 0.120.06 25.64.5 0.0260.013
Site-B 8.81.0 86.817.4 13.22.2 38.48.9 91.260.1 233104 9.52.2 0.420.19 54.317.9 0.0640.026
Site-C 4.31.3 24.515.4 4.82.1 10.04.7 5.13.3 26.516.6 5.61.0 0.070.06 23.81.8 0.0130.008
Site-D 4.50.9 58.48.5 8.50.8 19.82.3 14.42.0 57.010.4 7.11.8 0.130.02 21.13.3 0.0200.012
Site-E 5.80.7 37.67.8 6.71.0 12.83.5 8.03.2 45.610.8 5.01.4 0.130.05 24.62.0 0.0090.004
Site-F 6.60.9 75.810.3 12.81.8 31.45.1 23.86.1 11324.3 8.52.1 0.130.05 29.031 0.0190.009
Site-G 8.31.2 67.714.4 13.02.6 29.57.0 57.3126 12248.0 8.31.1 0.150.02 31.43.8 0.0240.007
Site-H 9.61.3 71.411.8 13.41.4 32.56.5 60.120.7 23276.4 11.12.4 1.020.49 55.416.5 0.1230.054
Site-I 6.70.7 73.39.7 11.91.0 29.43.9 47.032.0 17050.4 9.81.0 0.180.02 37.07.8 0.0540.022
Site-J 6.61.2 53.218.3 9.72.7 23.78.0 20.46.8 103.529.3 9.61.7 0.190.05 31.25.8 0.0460.023
Site-K 7.51.3 61.417.5 13.98.1 31.18.7 83.844.4 21676.7 14.96.4 0.370.20 56.028.8 0.1330.112
Site-L 6.11.9 40.321.1 6.33.4 15.29.1 13.49.3 85.553.7 12.24.8 0.140.11 31.111.7 0.0210.022
Min 4.3 24.5 4.8 10.0 5.1 26.5 5.0 0.07 21.1 0.009
Max 9.6 86.8 13.9 38.4 91.2 233 14.9 1.02 56.0 0.133
Mean 6.71.6 58.318.2 10.23.2 24.39.0 36.530.3 12273.8 9.12.8 0.250.26 35.012.9 0.0460.042
Background value
6.44 42.5 7.0 13.5 6.3 40.0 3.7 0.08 20.0 0.009

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 108 Ra, et al.

Table 3. Pearson correlation of metals in sediment of the coast

of Korea. Bold indicates significant correlation (confident level
=0.01).
Cr Co Ni Cu Zn As Cd Pb Hg
Cr 1 0.74 0.94 0.49 0.71 0.37 0.47 0.49 0.46
Co 1 0.80 0.50 0.70 0.38 0.42 0.64 0.53
Ni 1 0.55 0.77 0.49 0.52 0.55 0.58
Cu 1 0.76 0.42 0.44 0.65 0.50
Zn 1 0.59 0.77 0.89 0.72
As 1 0.34 0.46 0.53
Cd 1 0.67 0.65
Pb 1 0.70
Hg 1

found in site-B (Shihwa), Site-G (Gwangyang), Site-H (Masan),

Site-I (Busan) and Site-K (Ulsan), indicating significant
enrichment. Gwangyang bay is a representative industrial complex,
especially, steel manufacturing industry and container terminal.
Masan free trade complex has been set up in 1970 and there is also
exists machinery complexes near Masan. Thus, contamination
Figure 3. Hierarchical cluster analysis results at 12 sampling sites
load for metals have been considerably increased. Busan is the
along the coast of Korea.
second largest city in Korea and there is largest harbor in Korea.
Hg shows the second highest EF values and represents the
site-E (Hg). The mean metal concentrations existed in the second- heaviest contaminant. The mean EF value (4.0) indicates
following order of Zn>Cr>Cu>Pb>Ni>Co>As>Cd>Hg in the the moderate enrichment. EF values of Hg are in the significant
Korean coast sediments. enrichment range (5-20) at site-G, site-H and site-K. According to
A correlation matrix was calculated for heavy metals to EF values, Cd exhibited the third-heaviest contaminant. The
establish relationship among metals and determine common origin highest EF value (8.8) was found at site-H, suggesting significant
of metals in sediments of the Korean coast. Pearsons correlation enrichment (5-20). Many industrial facilities such as a
matrix for all samples is presented in Table 3. All the metals were petrochemical, a steel mill complex and ship building factory are
significantly positive correlated (p<0.01), indicating that they have operated at sampling site-H (Masan). For Zn, the highest value
same source of anthropogenic input derived from mainly was also found in site-K. The mean EF values for Zn ranged 2-5,
municipal and industrial wastewaters. indicating moderate enrichment. The EF values for As show
similar characteristics to those of Zn. In nine sites, EF values for
As were in the moderate enrichment range.
Assessment of metal contamination status In this study, the EF values for Pb indicate deficiency to low
The enrichment factor (EF) values for nine selected metals in enrichment except site-B and site-K. The mean EF values of site-
sediments are presented in Table 4. Based on EF values, Cu was B and site-K were 2.0 and 2.5, respectively, indicating moderate
the heaviest contaminants among the measured metals in Korean enrichment (2-5).
coast sediments. The EF values for Cu ranged from 1.1 to 11.5 Ni had the lowest EF values among the nine metals. The EF
with average of 4.9. The highest value for Cu (11.5) was observed values of Cr, Co and Ni in the Korean coast sediment are very low
in site-K, which is located Ulsan industrial complexes mainly (< 2) at most sites, indicating deficiency to
focus on petrochemical, automotive, electronics and shipbuilding low enrichment. The mean EF value of Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Hg are
industries. The relatively higher EF values in the range 5-20 were ranged 2-5, corresponding to moderately enrichment and EF
Table 4. Enrichment factors (EFs) and pollution load indices (PLIs) of metals for sediments of all sites in the coast of Korea.
Sites Enrichment factors (EFs) PLIs
Cr Co Ni Cu Zn As Cd Pb Hg
Site-A 1.3 1.3 1.1 2.4 1.9 2.5 1.8 1.6 3.0 1.5
Site-B 1.5 1.4 1.4 10.4 4.2 1.9 3.9 2.0 4.7 3.8
Site-C 0.8 1.0 0.7 1.1 0.9 2.5 1.2 1.9 1.8 0.8
Site-D 2.0 1.8 1.5 3.4 2.1 2.9 2.4 1.5 2.7 1.5
Site-E 1.0 1.1 0.7 1.4 1.2 1.5 1.8 1.4 1.0 1.1
Site-F 1.7 1.8 1.6 3.6 2.7 2.2 1.6 1.4 1.9 2.1
Site-G 1.2 1.4 1.2 6.7 2.3 1.8 1.4 1.2 1.9 2.2
Site-H 1.1 1.3 1.1 6.4 3.9 2.0 8.8 1.9 8.4 4.3
Site-I 1.7 1.6 1.5 7.1 4.1 2.6 2.3 1.8 5.1 2.8
Site-J 1.2 1.3 1.1 3.0 2.5 2.7 2.3 1.5 4.3 2.2
Site-K 1.2 1.7 1.3 11.5 4.7 3.4 4.1 2.5 11.0 3.9
Site-L 0.9 0.9 0.7 2.0 2.0 3.4 1.7 1.6 1.9 1.6
Mean 1.3 1.4 1.2 4.9 2.7 2.5 2.8 1.7 4.0 2.3
Min 0.8 0.9 0.7 1.1 0.9 1.5 1.2 1.2 1.0 0.8
Max 2.0 1.8 1.6 11.5 4.7 3.4 8.8 2.5 11.0 4.3

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 65, 2013

 Heavy metal contamination in sediments along the coast of Korea 109

Table 5. Classification of geoaccumulation index and the number of Igeo for metals from 12 sites in the coast of Korea.

Igeo Igeo Igeo

Designation of sediment quality
class Cr Co Ni Cu Zn As Cd Pb Hg
>5 6 extremely polluted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4-5 5 heavily polluted to extremely polluted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3-4 4 heavily polluted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2-3 3 moderately polluted to heavily polluted 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2
1-2 2 moderately polluted 0 0 0 3 4 3 3 0 3
0-1 1 unpolluted to moderately polluted 5 5 8 3 4 8 6 8 4
<0 0 practically unpolluted 7 6 4 2 4 1 3 4 3

Table 6. Comparison between sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) with metal concentrations (mg/kg) of all sites in this study.

Cr Ni Cu Zn As Cd Pb Hg
Total < TEL 68 57 75 101 56 167 90 177
(34.0%) (28.5%) (37.5%) (50.5%) (28.0%) (83.5%) (45.0%) (88.5%)
TEL-PEL 132 136 112 73 144 33 108 23
(66.0%) (68.0%) (56.0%) (36.5%) (72.0%) (16.5%) (54.0%) (11.5%)
> PEL 0 7 13 26 0 0 2 0
(3.5%) (6.5%) (13.0%) (1.0%)
SQGs TEL 52.3 15.9 18.7 124 7.24 0.68 30.24 0.13
PEL 160 42.8 108 271 41.6 42.1 112 0.70

values in sediments were higher in sites near industrial complexes
than other sites. This indicates that a significant amount of Cu, Zn,
As, Cd and Hg were introduced by anthropogenic sources,
especially industrial wastewater. Total EF values followed the
order of site-K>site-H>site-B>site-I>site-D>site-J>site-G>site-
F>site-A>site-L>site-C>site-E. The mean of EF values for each
metal decreased following the order of
Cu>Hg>Cd>Zn>As>Pb>Co>Cr>Ni.
The mean (SD) Igeo values were -0.31 (0.61) for Cr, -0.20
(0.56) for Co, 0.07 (0.68) for Ni, 1.13 (1.33) for Cu, 0.61
(1.03) for Zn, 0.62 (0.43) for As, 0.52 (1.04) for Cd, 0.15
(0.46) for Pb and 0.89 (1.24) for Hg, respectively. According to
Igeo values, Hg is the highest contaminant among the nine metals.
Igeo values at two sites (site-H and site-K) are between 2 and 3,
indicating moderately polluted to heavily polluted sediments
(Table 5). Cu has the highest Igeo values after Hg. Seven sites
represent above moderate polluted sediments. The Igeo values of
Cr, Co, Ni, Pb are all below 1, indicating that a practically
unpolluted to moderately polluted at all sampling sites. The Igeo
values indicate that the heavily industrial areas are moderately
polluted to strongly polluted for Cu, Zn and Hg.
The pollution load index (PLI) ranged from 0.8 to 2.3 (Table 4).
When PLI is greater than 1, it means that contamination exists;
however, if PLI is less than 1, there is no metal contamination.
The PLI value at site-C was 0.8, indicating no contamination for
metals. However, the PLI values at other site were greater than 1.
This indicates the most Korean coast sediments were moderately
contaminated with measured nine metals except for site-C. Site-H
(Masan bay), site-K (Ulsan bay) and site-B (artificial Lake
Shihwa) showed the higher PLI value of 4.3, 3.9 and 3.8,
indicating that the sediments were strongly contaminated with
measured metals in this study. The PLI values followed the order
of site-H>site-K>site-B>site-I>site-J>site-G>site-F>site-L>site-
A>site-D>site-E>site-B (Table 4). Even though the total pollution
load management system (TPLMS) was first applied in 2007 at
site-H (Masan bay), the contamination level of metals based on
PLI values was the highest comparing with other sites. Especially,
Masan bay (site-H), Ulsan bay (site-K), artificial Lake Shihwa
(site-B), Busan (site-I) and Gwangyang (site-G) are designated as
special management zone by the marine environment management
act since 2001 to improve and protect the coastal environment.
However, metal concentrations in these coastal sites within
characterized special management zones were relatively higher
than those of other sites. We concluded that these efforts were not
enough to restore metals contamination due to increasing
industrial wastewater and contaminants.
Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was used to explain the
spatial distribution of metals in sediment samples (Figure 3). The
result of HCA showed that the sites classified 3 major clusters
according to the level of heavy metal contamination. The pollution
levels of site-B, site-H, site-I and site-K included in cluster 1 were
very high with PLI values between 2.8 and 4.8. These sites are
characterized by heavily industrialized area that operates many
industrial factories and a big harbor. Four sites (site-F, site-G, site-
J and site-L) were classified as cluster 2 with PLI values from 2.1
to 2.3. The sites included in cluster 2 were near industrial
complexes and atomic power plants. On the other hand, cluster 3
included site-A, site-C, site-D, and site-E, which areas were
distance from potential pollution sources such as industrial
complexes except site-A, indicated by the lower levels of PLI
values less than 2. In case of site-A, coastal sediment was
relatively unpolluted although site-A was near a big harbor. The
reason was probably that coarse sediment dominated in site-A.
The results of HCA analyses using other indices also showed the
same results.
Assessment of potential ecological risk
Heavy metals in sediments persist in the environment and may
pose hazard not only to benthic biota but also to aquatic biota
because metals in sediments can be released into the overlying
water. A variety of metals are biologically essential elements, but
they have adverse effect on biota if their concentrations exceed
certain thresholds. Sediment-associated metals can accumulate in
the tissue of marine organisms and may have the potential to
adversely affect human throughout food-web. Thus, comparison
of metal concentrations with sediment quality guidelines (SQGs)

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 65, 2013

 110 Ra, et al.
provides reliable tools for assessing sediment quality and adverse
effects on the environments. The threshold effect level (TEL) and
probable effect level (PEL) was intended to estimate the
concentration of a chemical below which adverse effects only
rarely occurs and above which adverse effects frequently occurs
(MacDonald et al., 1996).
Because the reliable SQGs were not prepared in Korea, the
potential toxicity of the measured metals was evaluated in
comparison with SQGs such as TEL and PEL even though
background levels of the metals are not the same with those of
other countries in coastal sediments. The mean of Cr, Ni, Cu, As
and Pb levels in the Korean coast sediment exceeded the TEL
value. Zn was close to the TEL value. Cd and Hg were below the
TEL (Table 2 and 6). The results of potential risk assessment
showed that the contamination status of measured nine metals
except for Cd and Hg was high.
Among the total 200 sediment sample, Cr, Ni, Cu, As and Pb
were between TEL and PEL value in 66.0%, 68.0%, 56.0%,
72.0% and 54.0% of samples, respectively (Table 6). It suggests
that more than 50% of the Korean coast sediments indicate
slightly potential ecological risk. Cd and Hg were below TEL in
83.5% and 88.5% of samples, respectively, indicating that most
sediment for Cd and Hg was not toxic. In particular, Ni, Cu and
Zn were higher than the PEL values in 3.5%, 6.5% and 13.0% of
samples, respectively. Most of these sampling sites exceeding PEL
values are located on Shihwa, Masan and Ulsan bay close to
industrial complexes. However, the high exceedance of Ni and As
to TEL value is due to natural background metal level in marine
sediment of Korea (Lim et al., 2007).
We conclude that Cu, As and Zn are likely to result in adverse
effects on sediment-dwelling biota which expected to occur
frequently in the Korean coast sediments. However, EF values are
the highest in Cd and Hg, especially in site-H and site-K. The high
level of those metal concentrations may be contributed the most to
toxicity of benthic biota, even though the mean of Cd and Hg
concentrations in Korean coast sediment are lower than those of
PEL. Continuous monitoring might be required to evaluate overall
contamination status in marine environment of Korea.
CONCLUSION
Distribution and ecological risk for Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd,
Pb and Hg in sediment samples collected from 12 sites in the
coasts of Korea were studied. The results showed that the
sediments from highly industrialized areas such as Shihwa, Masan,
Gwangyang and Ulsan were more polluted with Cu, Zn, Cd, and
Hg than the sediments from un-industrialized areas implying that
Cu, Zn, Cd and Hg contamination is caused by anthropogenic
activity related to industries. Significant positive correlation (p <
0.01) among all measured metals showed that the major sources of
those metals are probably related. HCA well explained the spatial
distribution of analyzed heavy metals in sediment samples, and
contamination patterns of sediment from Korean coast depended
on contamination source type. Compared with the sediment
quality guidelines (SQGs), in more than 40% of sediment samples,
Cu, As, and Zn levels were above than TEL values showing that
contaminated sediments at those areas can affect adversely
sediment-dwelling organisms.
Consequently, continuous monitoring and efforts of remediation
are might be required to improve the coastal environment near
industrialized areas. In further studies, environmental and human
health risk posed by those metal pollution in sediment will be
assessed in the coast of Korea to evaluate adverse effects of
contaminated sediments.
Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 65, 2013
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study was supported by grants (PE99151 and PO00050)
from the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology.
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