Retroactive determination of industrial contaminants in tropical marine communities

A method for the simultaneous determination of all heavy metal contaminants in coral skeletons using the Inductively Coupled Plasma/Mass Spectrometer was developed recently (Scott, 1990). It is used here in an industrial application at the request of oil companies to determine whether their operations are influencing the reef ecosystem. It is compared with a mid-oceanic site where there are no significant influences of terrestrial input. The metals Zn, Cu, Al, Cr, Cd, Sn, Pb and Ni were detected in coral skeletons from Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Zn, Cu, Al, Cr, Pb, Ni and V were found in corals from the Java Sea, Indonesia. In a mid-oceanic site at the Maldives Zn, Cu, Al, Cr, Sn, Pb, U and V were detected in coral skeletons. Results from these three new sites, plus the published Hong Kong data, indicate the utility of not making any a priori assumptions on which metals may be present in the skeletons as metals present are not always the ones predicted.