Multivariate analysis of heavy metal contaminations in seawater and sediments from a heavily industrialized harbor in Southern Taiwan

- Kaohsiung Harbor is the largest international commercial port in Taiwan.
- The metal distributions in the seawater and sediments were investigated.
- Many metals exhibited higher levels of enrichment inside the harbor.
- Multivariate statistical analysis was used to characterize the metal pollutions.
- Two complex arrays of contamination behaviors exist inside and outside the harbor.

Heavy metal pollution, including chromium, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, copper, lead, and aluminum, in the largest industrial harbor in southern Taiwan was investigated. Increasing metal contamination was observed by monitoring heavy metal concentrations in seawater and sediments and estimating the enrichment factors, particularly those inside the harbor. Compared to other metal-polluted harbors worldwide, the presence of chromium in the sediments was relatively high. Excluding the background contribution, the harbor area was polluted by outflows from river mouths, wastewater discharging pipes, and point sources near industrial activities within the harbor. It is shown by principal component and cluster analyses that metal contamination was affected by a wide range of different and complex contamination mechanisms inside and outside the harbor, suggesting managing the pollution using straightforward strategies, i.e., solutions that only consider a single source or single pathway of metal emissions, is problematic.