Evaluation of elemental composition of Laguna Lake sediments collected near Bagumbayan River, Taguig using a Scanning Electron Microscope - Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscope (SEM-EDX)
Abstract
Rapid urbanization has led to the increase of anthropogenic input to the environment. A way of evaluating this effect is by measuring the elemental composition of sediments and their corresponding enrichment factor. Sediment samples collected from Laguna Lake near the mouth of Bagumbayan River in Taguig were characterized using a scanning electron microscope – energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope (SEM-EDX). The EDX spectrometer was able to quantify 11 elements namely oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, titanium, sulfur, and phosphorous. The calculated enrichment factor for the different metals showed minimal enrichment in titanium (1.26 to 1.75) and iron (1.05 to 1.56), with the highest value observed at the mouth of Bagumbayan River. This is an indicative of their anthropogenic nature. Moreover, variations in phosphorus concentration along the six sampling sites were observed. This can be attributed to the density of fish pens along the sampling area, in which phosphorous is a primary component of fish feed.