Author(s)

Meng Chuan Ong^1,2,3*, Hui-Juan Pan^4,5*, Noor Azhar Mohamed Shazili², David Menier⁶, Virginie Dupont⁷, Sidonie Révillon^8,9, Alexandra Connell¹⁰

¹Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
²Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
³Ocean Pollution and Ecotoxicology (OPEC) Research Group, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
⁴Institute of Earth Sciences, College of Ocean Science and Resource, National Taiwan Ocean University, Chinese Taipei.
⁵Center of Excellence for Ocean Engineering, College of Engineering, National Taiwan Ocean University, Chinese Taipei.
⁶Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (LGO), Université Bretagne Sud, Vannes, France.
⁷Département Sciences de la Matière et de la Vie, Université Bretagne Sud, Vannes, France.
⁸UMR 6538 Laboratoire Géosciences Océan, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Place Nicolas Copernic, Plouzané, France.
⁹SEDISOR, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Place Nicolas Copernic, Plouzané, France.
¹⁰Université de Bordeaux—UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC, Pessac, France.

Distribution patterns of selected heavy metals content in sediments from the Bay of Quiberon and Gulf of Morbihan were studied to understand the current heavy metals contamination due to urbanization and mariculture activities in the coastal area. Therefore, a survey was conducted and 196 sediments collected were characterized for heavy metals content using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) after mix acid digestion process. The distribution maps of the concentrations of the heavy metals studied were produced as an isopleth map based on data interpolation by the ArcGIS software application. The association with the adverse effects on aquatic organisms was determined by the classification of the sediment according to the sediment quality guidelines. Therefore, two approaches were employed namely: direct comparison with Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs) by USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and comparison with other numerical SQGs, threshold effect level/probable effect level, and effect range low/effect range medium. In order to estimate the effect of multiple contaminations of heavy metals, the mean-ERM-quotient was calculated at each sampling point.

Heavy Metals, Bay of Quiberon, Gulf of Morbihan, Sediment, Sediment Quality Guidelines

Ong, M. , Pan, H. , Shazili, N. , Menier, D. , Dupont, V. , Révillon, S. and Connell, A. (2021) Heavy Metals Concentration in Sediments of South Brittany Waters, France: An Ecological Risk Assessment Approach. Open Journal of Marine Science, 11, 55-68. doi: 10.4236/ojms.2021.111004.