Evaluation of Elemental Contamination and Ecological Risk of Trace and Heavy Metals around Sundarban, Bangladesh

Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forests in the world is famous for its unique ecosystem and rich wildlife habitat. Almost sixty percent (6017 km²) of the total 10,000 km² of this significant forests covers the south-west part of Bangladesh. Moreover, it is the single largest source of forest produce of Bangladesh. In developing like ours countries rivers are the end points of discharge of industries and household waste. As a result, the riverside surface sediments become unusable and demand extensive research for environment pollution studies. There are 177 rivers flowing through Sundarbans in Bangladesh portion. A large number of canals and creeks flow into the large rivers, which are interconnected. Mangroves are diverse ecosystems and act as a fragile link between marine and fresh water ecosystems, pollution sinks, and source of nutrient flux into the marine ecosystem. In the recent decade, mangrove ecosystem has been increasingly threatened due to the adverse effects of anthropogenic activities. This increases the trace element contamination that can increase a serious threat to the mangrove ecosystem which may lead to contamination of the food chain. In the last few years, several oil, fertilizer and coal fly ash carrying cargo accidents occurred at the Sela and Poshur rivers inside the Sundarban of Bangladesh which will influence ecological catastrophe in the Sundarban [1 - 8].

This study would be done through Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) a branch of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) of quantitative elemental analysis. It’s a popular method among all type of NAA method because the samples kept same before and after the test, so samples can be tested many times as we wish. After irradiating in Nuclear reactor and then measuring the samples by Hyper Pure Germanium (HPGe) Detector, it will help to understand the present condition of proposed area and also can present the ecological picture of different parts of world largest mangrove forest. In future, anyone can use this data with his/her result to compare the gradual deformation of environment of the proposed area [9 - 13].

• Research Project