Data on Heavy metal in coastal sediments from South East Coast of Tamilnadu, India using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) Technique

This article contains the chemical and geographical data and figures for the chemical data in sediments of East Coast (Pattipulam to Dhevanampattinam) of Tamilnadu. The obtained data are related to the research article “Heavy Metal Assessment in Sediment Samples Collected From Pattipulam to Dhevanampattinam along the East Coast of Tamil Nadu Using EDXRF Technique” (Chandramohan et al., 2016) [1]. Chemical data are collected from Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (EDXRF). Furthermore, the obtained chemical data describes it in more detail in the figures.


Type of data
The sediment samples were dried at 105°C for 24 h, homogenized and sieved using a 63 μm in order to identify the geochemical concentrations. All powder samples were stored in desiccators until they were analyzed.One gram of the fine grinded sample and 0.5 g of boric acid (H 3 BO 3 ) was mixed.
The mixture was thoroughly grinded and pressed to a pellet of 25 mm diameter using a hydraulic press (20 tons) for EDXRF analysis. Data shown here used as a tool for anthropogenic causes in heavy metal content and to identify common pollution sources.
Data shows that continuous monitoring and efforts of remediation might be required to improve the coastal environment near industrialized areas.

Data
The chemical data in sediments from Pattipulam to Devanampattinam along the East Coast of Tamilnadu is presented in Table 1. Table 2 gives the data on geographical information of the sampling points of the study area. Fig. 1 shows metals concentration levels in the sediment samples in polluted and unpolluted areas, and Fig. 2 shows the sampling points in the study area.

Sample collections
Sediment samples were collected along the Bay of Bengal coastline, from Pattipulam to Devanampattinam coast during pre-monsoon condition. These samples were collected in premonsoon season, when sediment texture and ecological conditions can be clearly observed, when erosional activities are predominant, and sediments were not transported from the river and estuary towards the beach and marine. In order to ensure minimum disturbance of the upper layer, samples were collected by a Peterson grab sampler from 10 m water depths parallel to the shoreline. The grab sampler collects 10 cm thick bottom sediment layer from the seabed along the 22 stations.
Uniform quantity (about 2 kg) of sediment samples were collected from all the sampling stations. Sampling locations were selected to collect representative samples from all along the study area. Table 2 represents the geographical latitude and longitude for all the sampling locations of the study area. Care was taken to ensure that the collected sediments were not in contact with the metallic dredge of the sampler, and the top sediment layer was scooped with an acid washed plastic spatula. Sediment samples were stored in refrigerated at À4°C until analysis [2]. Then pebbles, leaves and other foreign particles were removed.

EDXRF analysis
The samples were air dried at a temperature of 110°C until constant weight, lightly ground in an agate mortar for homogenization and sieved to pass o 63 mm (metals are most often associated with small grains) [3]. All powder samples were stored in desiccators until they were analyzed. One gram of the fine ground sample and 0.5 g of the boric acid (H 3 BO 3 ) were mixed. The mixture was thoroughly ground and pressed to a pellet of 25 mm diameter using a hydraulic press (20 tons) for EDXRF analysis. Table 3 list the analysis of soil standard-2709a reference sample using EDXRF.

Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest associated with this manuscript. Table 3 Results obtained from the analysis of soil standard-2709a reference sample using EDXRF (in mg kg À 1 ).