A Comparative SEM-EDS Elemental Composition of Mud in Coastal Aquaculture Ponds

The present study was aimed to understand the comparative abundance and source of elemental constituents in mud of four coastal shrimp farming areas, Vunh Tau (VT), Nha Trang (NT), Da Nang (DN) and Hue (HU) in Viet Nam using SEM-EDS analysis. Mud samples were collected from shrimp farming coastal zones and used for SEM-EDS analysis. Obtained results clearly revealed that all muds were predominately constituted with Si (23.39 – 47.42%), Al (4.5 – 15.9%), Fe (0.59 –8.29%) and C (6.56 to 12.55%). Despite that K (3.67%), Al (15.9%), Fe (8.29%) and Ti (0.65%) were distributed at highest percentage in the VT than that of the remaining three stations; Na (3.68%) was prevalent in NT; whereas Mg (1.46%) and Si (47.42) were abundant with elevated percentage in DN as well as C (12.55%), P (3.34%) and S (2.72%) pronounced with maximum percentage in HU. Therefore, it may also be concluded that mud of all shrimp ponds are principally composed with Si, Al, Fe and C as major elemental constituents, whereas remaining other elements are present in low percentage in the mud of shrimp ponds in geochemical profile of Viet Nam. Though it is not possible to ascertain the source of all elements from this study but abundance of Al and Fe in the mud of shrimp ponds are largely influenced by the anthropogenic sources. Moreover, from this study it can be suggested that monitoring of elemental composition and their source using SEM-EDS would be a potential tool for understanding the concentration level towards conserving the coastal environment.