Heavy Metals in Sediments and Burrowing Bivalves (Sinonovacula constricta Lamarck) from Tidal Flats along the Saemankeum Area, Korea

새만금지역 갯벌 환경(패류, 저질)에서의 중금속 분포특성

Heavy metal concentration/distribution in sediments and bivalves from the tidal flats in Saemankeum coastal area, western Korea, were investigated, Among 6 sampling sites, S2, S5 and S6 showed the higher levels of Zn, Cr, Ni, Cu and Cd contamination and S1 did the higher level of Pb contamination than other sites, while S-4 showed the lowest levels of these metal contamination. Overally, the levels of Zn, Cu and Pb concentrations in Sinonovacula constricta were estimated to be relatively high. The shell lengths of the collected mussels were linearly related to their dry weights of the whole soft parts, but the mussels collected from S3 were in a poor nutrition, resulting in the distinctively high levels of metal concentrations in the body. It was shown that in S. constricta, Cr, Ni, Cu and Zn are distributed equally into the whole soft parts or a little more into the flesh, after absorption, while Fe, Cd, Pb and Mn are transferred more into the non-flesh parts than into the flesh parts. In S. constricta, the heavy metal concentrations in the flesh increase with those in the whole soft parts. The bioaccumulation factors(heavy metal concentration in S. constricta/heavy metal concentration in sediment) showed that, of the examined metals, Cd is the most cumulative in the body of S. constricta, followed by Zn and Cu, while Mn, Cr, Ni and Pb are not cumulative.