ORIGINAL ARTICLE Evaluation of trace-metal enrichments from the 26 December 2004 tsunami sediments along the Southeast coast of India S. Srinivasalu Æ N. Thangadurai Æ M. P. Jonathan Æ J. S. Armstrong-Altrin Æ T. Ayyamperumal Æ V. Ram-Mohan Received: 20 September 2006 / Accepted: 23 April 2007 / Published online: 22 May 2007 Ó Springer-Verlag 2007 Abstract The tsunami sediments deposited after the December 2004 tsunami were sampled immediately in the coastal environment of Tamil Nadu State on the southeast coast of India. Fifty-four sediment samples were collected and 14 representative samples were selected to identify the level of metal contamination in tsunami sediments. The results indicate that the sediments are mainly of fine to medium-grained sand and contain significantly high con- tents of dissolved salts in sediments (Na + ,K + , Ca +2 , Mg +2 , Cl – ) in water-soluble fraction due to seawater deposition and evaporation. Correlation of acid leachable trace metals (Cr, Cu, Ni, Co, Pb, Zn) indicate that Fe-Mn oxyhydrox- ides might play an important role in controlling their association between them. Enrichment of trace metals is observed in all the locations with reference to the back- ground samples. High values of trace metals in the southern part of the study area are due to the large-scale industries along the coast, and they are probably anthropogenic in nature and of marine origin, which could cause serious environmental problems. Keywords Tsunami sediments Á Contamination Á Dissolved salts in sediments Á Trace metals Á Southeast coast of India Introduction The mega tsunami occurred in the northern part of Suma- tra, Indonesia, during the early hours of 26 December 2004. The subsequent huge tsunami waves caused unprecedented loss of life and damage to property in many countries as well as all along south India coast (Fig. 1a). The tsunami waves generated by the major event produced extensive changes in coastline by introducing large amount of sea- water intrusion in ground water (Bryant et al. 1996; Bryant 2001; Scheffers and Kelletat 2003; Kitagawa et al. 2006; Sil and Freymueller 2006). The Asian Tsunami waves created many direct and indirect effects in the south east coast of India, which are related to short- and long-term effects. The studies on the Asian Tsunami were mainly focused on estimating the tsunami runup, destructive nature of tsunami waves, topography of the coastline and destruction of human life (Sato et al. 1995; Harinarayan and Naoshi 2005; Jain et al. 2005; Kathiresan and Rajendran 2005; Narayan et al. 2005; Rigg et al. 2005; Maheswari et al. 2006; Sheth et al. 2006; Synolakis and Kong 2006; Yeh et al. 2006). However, the problem of contamination and their possible long-term effects were not studied with keen interest in the tsunami sediments except for a few studies on seawater intrusion and contamination in the present as well as in the past events (Shi et al. 1995; Dawson et al. 1996; Gelfenbaum and Jaffe 2003; Ramanmurthy et al. 2005; Kotwicki and Szczucin ´ski 2006; Ramasamy et al. 2006; Swamy et al. 2006; Szczucin ´ski et al. 2005, 2006). S. Srinivasalu Á N. Thangadurai Department of Geology, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India M. P. Jonathan (&) Á J. S. Armstrong-Altrin Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Auto ´noma del Estado de Hidalgo, Ciudad Universitaria, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo Km.4.5, Pachuca, Hidalgo C.P.42184, Mexico e-mail: mpjonathan7@yahoo.com T. Ayyamperumal Á V. Ram-Mohan Department of Geology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600 025, India 123 Environ Geol (2008) 53:1711–1721 DOI 10.1007/s00254-007-0777-8