# Assessment of Heavy Metal Distributions in Sand Beaches in the Maltese Islands
## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Chemical Analysis  
#### 3.1.1 Descriptive Statistics  
Concentrations for the heavy metals assessed in this study, as shown in decreasing order, include Sr \(>\) Fe \(>\) Mn \(>\) Pb \(>\) Zn \(>\) Cu, as ppm/g in the descriptive statistics shown in Table 6. Background levels of heavy metal content for Malta are not yet available, thus comparison of values was not possible. Results have been compared to concentrations documented in other similar studies for locations around the Mediterranean Sea, including Italy, Spain, and Egypt [33; 34; 35; 36], and to background worldwide carbonate rock values issued by Turekian and Wedepohl [31]. A comparison of results is documented in Table 7 below. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Bay**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Elemental Data (ppm/g)**} \\ \cline{3-8} \multicolumn{2}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Cu**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Fe**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Mn**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Pb**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Sr**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Zn**} \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Ghadira**} & **Mean** & 2.114 & 80.992 & 9.506 & 3.223 & 179.019 & 4.020 \\  & **Min** & 0.622 & 55.504 & 7.687 & 1.765 & 76.492 & 0.975 \\  & **Max** & 9.278 & 91.527 & 11.601 & 5.230 & 219.644 & 12.038 \\  & **SD** & 1.608 & 8.746 & 0.985 & 0.903 & 30.661 & 3.363 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Rinella**} & **Mean** & 9.561 & 116.575 & 12.098 & 21.300 & 263.098 & 8.710 \\  & **Min** & 7.977 & 114.849 & 11.410 & 20.607 & 235.524 & 8.526 \\  & **Max** & 10.783 & 117.621 & 13.039 & 22.119 & 286.957 & 8.829 \\  & **SD** & 1.438 & 1.506 & 0.843 & 0.764 & 25.917 & 0.161 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Ramla**} & **Mean** & 2.059 & 112.824 & 17.361 & 3.336 & 90.750 & 3.020 \\  & **Min** & 1.573 & 97.260 & 14.417 & 1.828 & 74.525 & 2.208 \\  & **Max** & 2.625 & 116.007 & 19.083 & 4.726 & 98.836 & 3.717 \\  & **SD** & 0.294 & 4.388 & 1.351 & 0.976 & 7.015 & 0.384 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Mistra**} & **Mean** & 5.771 & 85.054 & 7.692 & 8.665 & 118.955 & 5.007 \\  & **Min** & 4.164 & 74.517 & 7.574 & 7.499 & 110.500 & 4.190 \\  & **Max** & 7.377 & 95.590 & 7.811 & 9.831 & 127.410 & 5.823 \\  & **SD** & 2.272 & 14.901 & 0.168 & 1.649 & 11.957 & 1.154 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**White Tower**} & **Mean** & 1.204 & 66.757 & 8.079 & 1.990 & 162.730 & 2.861 \\  & **Min** & 0.860 & 57.541 & 7.400 & 1.260 & 143.571 & 2.511 \\  & **Max** & 1.426 & 72.547 & 8.861 & 2.584 & 184.886 & 3.305 \\  & **SD** & 0.363 & 5.474 & 0.560 & 0.492 & 16.832 & 0.295 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Little Armier**} & **Mean** & 1.406 & 75.525 & 9.302 & 2.379 & 196.902 & 1.419 \\  & **Min** & 0.419 & 69.096 & 8.480 & 2.143 & 181.654 & 1.370 \\  & **Max** & 3.779 & 84.870 & 10.293 & 2.647 & 212.383 & 1.466 \\  & **SD** & 1.589 & 6.676 & 0.832 & 0.243 & 13.161 & 0.053 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Xemija**} & **Mean** & 2.693 & 89.334 & 7.550 & 4.663 & 98.836 & 3.623 \\  & **Min** & 2.693 & 89.334 & 7.550 & 4.663 & 98.836 & 3.623 \\  & **Max** & 2.693 & 89.334 & 7.550 & 4.663 & 98.836 & 3.623 \\  & **SD** & N/A & N/A & N/A & N/A & N/A & N/A \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Xlendi**} & **Mean** & 16.909 & 93.747 & 11.195 & 37.949 & 205.563 & 4.741 \\  & **Min** & 5.986 & 87.364 & 10.156 & 12.478 & 194.677 & 3.531 \\ \cline{1-1}  & **Max** & 40.812 & 112.856 & 12.403 & 102.845 & 220.674 & 8.761 \\ \cline{1-1}  & **SD** & 13.841 & 10.729 & 0.849 & 37.479 & 9.873 & 2.251 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Xlendi**} & **Mean** & 4.322 & 79.360 & 16.554 & 10.461 & 99.398 & 4.447 \\ \cline{1-1}  & **Min** & 4.322 & 79.360 & 16.554 & 10.461 & 99.398 & 4.447 \\ \cline{1-1}  & **Max** & 4.322 & 79.360 & 16.554 & 10.461 & 99.398 & 4.447 \\ \cline{1-1}  & **SD** & N/A & N/A & N/A & N/A & N/A & N/A \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: Descriptive statistics of heavy metal concentrations in sand.