Development and evaluation of sediment quality index based on organic pollutants and heavy metals in Masan Bay, Korea

Abstract

A sediment quality index (SQI) was applied for the assessment of sediment quality in Masan Bay, Korea where metals and organic pollutants are of concern. The SQI was calculated by two functions, ‘scope’ (the number of variables that do not meet guideline objective) and ‘amplitude’ (the magnitude by which variables exceed guideline objective), with six different sediment quality guideline values from Canada, USA and Australia/New Zealand. Categorization of sediment quality was on the basis of SQI scores. The SQI values were compared with six guideline values applied. The SQI values were severely influenced by a few variables (e.g. dioxin) of high exceedance in the degree of non-compliance. The SQI values were very dependent on both the number and values of guideline variables used in index calculation. Nevertheless, the SQI could provide integrated and simplified information from a large numbers of chemical data set.