Application of multi-monitoring methods to investigate the contamination and distributed accumulation of heavy metals at Saphan Hin, Phuket, Thailand

Abstract

Heavy metals have been frequently investigated exceeding the safe threshold in some areas including coastal site, the crucial aquatic source of human food as well as the mining site. In addition, a detail examination for determining the contamination in those areas cost expensively in order to initiate the proper mitigation. This research illustrates the achievement by employing the effective methods such as chemical analysis (CA) utilizing aqua-regia and geo-electrical method including electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) and induced polarization (IP) for estimating the contaminated level in subsurface sediment in an efficient way. The study was done at coastal area, Saphan Hin, Phuket, Thailand situated downstream of Bang-Yai canal which is considered the main pathway bringing heavy metal from the mining industry where the nearest is far about 4 km away. Phuket Island is considered to be one of the most attractive places for tourism in Thailand while Saphan Hin can be seen as the main region for sea fishery to supply the amount of food demand for a large number of tourists coming to visit this Island. The results depict that the exceeding level of possible contamination is at least up to 3 km far from the estuary with the depth in the range from 50 m to 50 cm, requiring the measures for the health of local and tourist people.