Nitrate Concentrations in the Surface Seawater of the Straits of Malacca

Abstract

The Straits of Malacca is an interesting area for ecotoxicological studies because of its role as a shipping lane and as receiving wastes due to land-based activities along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. One of the chemical pollutants that has not been reported in the literature is nitrate concentration in the Straits of Malacca. Three cruise sampling from November 1998 to April 1999 were conducted from northern to southern parts of the Straits. The nitrate concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 0.07 mg/L, 0.01 to 0.08 mg/L and 0.01 to 0.08 mg/L, for samples from the first, second and third cruises, respectively. These offshore nitrate concentrations were much lower than those found for several coastal waters (0.17–0.33 mg/L) of Peninsular Malaysia, a groundwater sample (0.88 mg/L) and other reported studies. Although the background nitrate concentrations from the present study indicated that the nitrate contamination in the Straits of Malacca is not serious, future monitoring of nitrate along the Straits of Malacca is needed since it can pose ecotoxicological significance to living biota.