Assessment of metal contaminants along the Bay of Bengal-Multivariate pollution indices

The spatial concentration of heavy metals (Mn, Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Cd, and Pb) was studied in coastal areas (n = 9) including water (n = 27) and sediment (n = 27) in the Palk Bay, India to understand the metal pollution due to prevailing natural and anthropogenic activities. Pollution indices like metal index (MI), geoaccumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI) and potential ecological risk (PER) were calculated based on the background/reference value. The values of MI index indicated that water was free of metals, whereas Igeo, CF, PLI and PER indicated moderate contamination of sediment in monsoon. Cadmium concen-trations were the highest irrespective of the indices (Igeo: 0.04-1.42, Cf: 0.36-0.74, PLI: 0.36-0.74, and PER: 76.89-143.36) indicating moderate pollution. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) affirmed that Cd was positively correlated with stations indicating anthropogenic sources of Cd contamination.