Input of organic matter in Brunei Bay, East Malaysia, as indicated by sedimentary steroids and multivariate statistics. (July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pang, Swee Yun; Tay, Joo Hui; Suratman, Suhaimi; Simoneit, Bernd R.T.; Mohd Tahir, Norhayati
• Is Part Of: Marine pollution bulletin. Volume 156(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-07
• Subjects: Allochthonous input -- Brunei Bay -- Coprostanol -- PCA -- Sterols; Marine pollution -- Periodicals; Marine Biology -- Periodicals; Water Pollution -- Periodicals; Mer -- Pollution -- Périodiques; Publications périodiques; Pollution des mers; Lutte antipollution; Electronic journals; 363.7394
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111269
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-326X

Abstract

Abstract: Brunei Bay is one of the most important marine environments of East Malaysia (South China Sea), covering many productive ecosystems with activities including fisheries, tourism, and main shipping lanes for petroleum transfers. Evaluation of the sources and distributions of steroids in the surface sedimentary organic matter was carried out by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The concentrations of the total identified sterols (TIS) ranged between 0.81 and 12.69 μg g −1 dry weight, and the total sterones were between 0.11 and 5.66 μg g −1 dry weight. The coprostanol level was comparatively low (<0.10 μg g −1 ), and the multi-biomarker proxies indicated that the region did not exhibit significant contamination from sewage effluents. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed the coastal environment of the study area was dominated by allochthonous (mainly terrestrial) organic matter input. Highlights: We investigated the sources of the steroids in Brunei Bay. Allochthonous (terrestrial) and autochthonous (marine) contributions were recognized. PCA clustered the allochthonous organic matter were major inputs. Low coprostanol levels inferred insignificant sewage contamination.