Correlation of heavy metal concentration in selected hyperaccumulator plants to the lithologies in Sokor, Kelantan

Abstract

Sokor, Kelantan is quite well known with gold deposition and few gold mines have been operated there. Located within the central gold belt, it is highly potential to be found with more valuable metals deposit. Thus, this study was conducted using hyperaccumulator plants as a medium to check the absorption of metal compound in the plant body as well as to measure the concentration of heavy metal elements in the soil around the potential area. The plants such as Melastoma Malabathricum, Mimosa Pudica, Dactylis Glomerate, Rhamnus Frangula and Syzygium Zeylanicum have been sampled together with the soil samples at nine different locations within the study area. The samples were prepared appropriately before analysed using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). The results for sample 18AFDS1 and 18AFD8(5) have shown promising concentration of manganese and iron respectively. Bioaccumulation Factor (BF) that represents the ratio of element concentration between plants and soil also was used as an indicator for metal adsorption within the collected samples. It is assumed that the samples with BF value more than 1, are located close to the potential deposit with the lithology of tuff and schist. Melastoma Malabathricum, Rhamnus Frangula and Dactylis Glomerate are amongst the plant species that have BF values more than 1. In conclusion, the concentration of heavy metal elements in the hyperaccumulator plants aside from the soil samples can act as a medium or indicator to locate the potential gold deposition with the reference of BF value.