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Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is an extensively used and toxic phthalate plasticizer that is widely reported in marine environments. Degradation of DEHP by bacteria from several environments have been studied, but little is known about marine sediment bacteria that can degrade DEHP and other phthalate plasticizers. Therefore, in this study, we enriched a bacterial consortium C10 that can degrade four phthalate plasticizers of varying alkyl chain lengths (DEHP, dibutyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, and dimethyl phthalate) from marine sediment. The major bacterial genera in C10 during degradation of the phthalate plasticizers were Glutamicibacter, Ochrobactrum, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Stenotrophomonas, and Methylophaga. Growth of C10 on DEHP intermediates (mono-ethylhexyl phthalate, 2-ethylhexanol, phthalic acid, and protocatechuic acid) was studied and these intermediates enhanced the Brevibacterium, Ochrobactrum, Achromobacter, Bacillus, Sporosarcina, and Microbacterium populations. Using a network-based approach, we predicted that Bacillus, Stenotrophomonas, and Microbacterium interacted cooperatively and were the main degraders of phthalate plasticizers. Through selective isolation techniques, we obtained twenty isolates belonging to Bacillus, Microbacterium, Sporosarcina, Micrococcus, Ochrobactrum, Stenotrophomonas, Alcaligenes, and Cytobacillus. The best DEHP-degraders were Stenotrophomonas acidaminiphila OR13, Microbacterium esteraromaticum OR16, Sporosarcina sp. OR19, and Cytobacillus firmus OR20 (83.68%, 59.1%, 43.4%, and 40.6% degradation of 100 mg/L DEHP in 8 d), which agrees with the prediction of key degraders. This is the first report of DEHP degradation by all four bacteria and, thus, our findings reveal as yet unknown PAE-degradation capabilities of marine sediment bacteria. This study provides insights into how bacterial communities adapt to degrade or resist the toxicities of different PAEs and demonstrates a simple approach for the prediction and isolation of potential pollutant degraders from complex and dynamic bacterial communities.

One of the persistent environmental problems in the provinces of northern Thailand is severe air pollution during the dry season because of open vegetation burning by farmers for land clearance purpose. Aerosol optical depth and Ångström exponent data from MODIS-Terra satellite indicated that from mid-March to April, 2019, entire Thailand was covered with a high concentration of fine-sized aerosols. Trace metal concentrations of PM2.5 collected from Chiang Rai in northern Thailand and Bangkok in southern Thailand between January and April 2019 were analyzed. Average concentrations of crustal metals such as Al, Ca, and Fe are higher in Chiang Rai compared to that in Bangkok. The Fe/Al ratio in Chiang Rai decreases from 1.65 during the onset of haze to 0.87 during the peak haze approaching a crustal ratio of 0.48. In contrast, Bangkok has higher Na, Mg, and Zn with an average Na/Mg ratio of 6.07 indicative of a sea spray (Na/Mg ∼ 8) origin. Principal component analysis identifies three possible sources in Chiang Rai: (1) crustal dust and biomass burning, (2) industrial source, and (3) refuse incineration mixed with road dust; and for Bangkok (1) natural background, industrial emissions, and coal combustion, (2) traffic emission, and (3) sea spray. The ranges of Pb isotope ratios in the bulk fraction of PM2.5 in Chiang Rai (206Pb/207Pb = 1.1445–1.1657 and 208Pb/207Pb = 2.4244–2.4468) and Bangkok (206Pb/207Pb = 1.1343–1.1685 and 208Pb/207Pb = 2.4138–2.4450) are not significantly different. However, in a time series plot, 206Pb/207Pb ratios in Chiang Rai follow PM2.5 during the peak burning season and correlate well with the Al/Pb (r2 = 0.61) ratios, indicating that at least part of the Pb is derived from crustal dust during peak fire. Using a binary mixing model, the most radiogenic Pb isotopes in Chiang Rai during the peak haze can be explained by ∼5 to 30% mixing of crustal dust with ∼35–40% biomass burning generated aerosols with the background. From the trace metal systematics and Pb isotope ratios, it is evident that (1) during the biomass burning season, trace metals from Chiang Rai are not transported down south to Bangkok and (2) in addition to metals released from biomass burning, the raging fire remobilizes crustal dust that forms an important source of Pb and other trace metals in the Chiang Rai aerosol. Ministry of Education (MOE) Accepted version This research has been supported by a Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) Tier 1 grant (MOE-NTU_RG125/16-(S)), Department of Science & Technology (DST, Govt of India) (RTF/2019/000052), Centre of Excellence on Hazardous Substance Management and the 90th Anniversary (Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund) of Chulalongkorn University Funds. JK was supported by the Science Achievement Scholarship of Thailand (SAST). The authors also thank the research groups of MODIS for providing the data and HYSPLIT for providing software for back-trajectory computations. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Pornsak Bureekul for collecting the sample from Chiang Rai and Ms. Lin Ke for keeping the chemistry lab and instruments in impeccable conditions. Baan Hom Muen Lee Resort in Chiang Rai (http://www.baanhommuenlee.com/) kindly provided us with the pictures of clear day and hazy day in Chiang Rai used in the TOC graphics.

Fifteen native luminescent bacteria were isolated from the Gulf of Thailand, and their sensitivity for the detection of toxicity of crude oil and its aromatic components was investigated. Of these isolates, Vibrio campbellii strain FS5 was one of the two most highly inhibited bacteria at all crude oil concentrations. This bacterium showed a decrease in luminescence intensity of between 10.7 and 80.2% after a 15-min exposure to 0.0001–10 mg/L of crude oil. The degree of bioluminescence inhibition increased with increasing concentrations of crude oil. The presence of crude oil at all concentrations had negative effects on the log bioluminescence per log number of viable cells after 15- to 105-min exposure. About 10 to 100 times, lower half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values were observed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) than those for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX). In the presence of each individual BTEX and PAH, the bioluminescence inhibition increased with increasing exposure time (1–32 h). This indigenous bacterium can be used as a simple and general indicator of oil contamination and its impact on coastal waters as well as for assessing potential toxicity during oil bioremediation.

Summary: Acid volatile sulphide (AVS), one of the most reactive phases in sediments, is a crucial link in explaining a dynamic biogeochemical cycle in a marine ecosystem. Research gaps exist in describing the spatial variation of AVS and interconnections with sediment covariates in the Eastern Upper Gulf of Thailand. Measurements of AVS and auxiliary parameters followed the standard protocol. A comparison of ordinary kriging (OK), cokriging (CK), and regression kriging (RK) performance was evaluated based on the mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE). The concentrations of AVS ranged from 0.003 to 0.349 mg g−1 sediment dry weight. Most parameters contained short range spatial dependency except for oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) and pH. The AVS tended to be both linearly and non-linearly related to ORP and readily oxidisable organic matter (ROM). The RK model, using inputs from the tree-based model, was the most robust of the three kriging methods. It is suggested that nonlinear interactions should be taken into account when predicting AVS concentration, and it is expected that this will further increase the model accuracy. This study helps establish a platform for ecological health and sediment quality guidelines. Keywords: Spatial estimation, Acid volatile sulphide, Sediment, Geostatistical analysis, Gulf of Thailand

After global phasing out of leaded gasoline, anthropogenic sources of atmospheric lead (Pb) are dominated by coal combustion emissions, high-temperature metallurgical processes, and vehicle exhausts. Thailand was one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to completely phase out leaded gasoline by the year 1994. This study investigates the sources of atmospheric Pb in Thai aerosols, a quarter-century after phasing out of leaded gasoline using a multiproxy approach, Pb isotopes in conjunction with trace metal composition of PM2.5. Aerosol samples were collected for 1 year from January 2018 to April 2019 from Bangkok and Chonburi to understand the influence of seasonal variation on aerosol chemistry. Bangkok is the only megacity in Thailand and notorious for traffic congestion and Chonburi is a coastal town, 80 km southeast of Bangkok where the inter monsoon winds make landfall. Aerosol Pb concentrations significantly decreased in 25 years from 74 ± 5 ng/m3 in 1994–1995 to 14 ± 13 ng/m3 measured in Bangkok during Northeast (NE) monsoon winds. Concentrations of all the metals are higher in Chonburi compared to Bangkok in the NE monsoon wind, owing to the addition of local emissions from the megacity over the long-range transported metals before the winds reach the coastal town. The Pb isotope ratios have a wide range (206Pb/207Pb range 1.1343–1.1685 and 208Pb/207Pb range 2.4138–2.4450) but the average ratios are not significantly different in Bangkok and Chonburi for all three seasons. However, present day 206Pb/207Pb ratios are more radiogenic than those measured 25 years ago in Bangkok. The Pb isotopes from both locations in all seasons have considerable overlap with unleaded gasoline and diesel used in Southeast Asia indicating automobile exhaust as an important source. Additionally, the NE monsoon winds are influenced by mixing of crustal dust (Al/Pb ratios correlates well with 206Pb/207Pb, r2 = 0.63) with coal combustion emission (strong inter-correlation of Pb, Zn, As and Cd, r2 from 0.72 to 0.94) from China and Vietnam. Pb isotopes of the Southwest (SW) monsoon winds are also influenced by crustal dust and falls on the mixing line between coal combustion and ore processing emission from India in a Pb triple isotope plot. Chemical composition of aerosols in the inter-monsoon winds are similar to SW monsoon winds. After a quarter-century of leaded gasoline banning in Thailand, the atmospheric Pb sources have changed from less radiogenic leaded gasoline exhaust and Chinese ore processing to more radiogenic unleaded gasoline and diesel exhaust and coal combustion.

This study presents high-resolution clay mineralogy of Core MASS-III-10, located in the southeastern Andaman Sea. The study aimed to investigate terrigenous sedimentary input from various potential provenances throughout different periods of geological time. The clay mineral assemblages of MASS-III-10 reveal a high amount of smectite at 73% (65-79%), a moderate kaolinite at 12% (10-17%), and a low illite and chlorite content(

In this study, we attempted to use PAHs as a chemical proxy to trace the transport of land-derived materials caused by the tsunami backwash to better understand how it may have affected the distribution of sedimentary deposition throughout the seabed of Khao Lak coastal areas. By analyzing the compositions of sedimentary PAHs in combination with application of the multivariate descriptive statistical techniques, PAHs were proven to be a promising chemical proxy to indicate the tsunami backwash in the study area. Their spatial distribution could indicate that the tsunami backwash plays an important role in transporting anthropogenic PAHs to the nearby coastal area as far as approximately 25 km from the shoreline. In addition, the results from diagnostic PAH isomer ratios suggested that road paving asphalt, originated from heavy erosion by the tsunami wave in front of Pakarang Cape, was among the identified sources of PAHs. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) results provided 2 estimated land-derived sources of PAHs, which were the road dust and oil burning sources. These estimated signature sources clearly support our hypothesis that PAHs were transported from the potential sources on land and deposited into the near-shore seabed during tsunami backwash.

Water scarcity is the main problems of water management and various socio-economic development activities of Thailand. Expert opinion and scientific knowledge are always convenient to be used to solve problems. To some extent, this approach may not be applicable since it is not accepted by local communities. To reduce this conflict, participatory approach may provide local cooperation and assist developing better water management strategies. Pranburi Basin is an important headwater that supports both agricultural land and municipality which includes Hua-Hin, a famous tourist place. The aims of this study were to assess water scarcity and to apply stakeholder participation into decision making processes for water management. Water stress index and criticality ratio were used to assess water scarcity. A Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework was used to describe water scarcity and contributing factors. Based on DPSIR analysis, the stakeholders proposed and then prioritized for the most appropriate responses by ordinary weighing technique. The results indicated that the four most preferable measures for this basin include controlling agricultural area, controlling crop types, reforestation and establishing local water user association.

The coastline of Khao Lak (Thailand) was heavily damaged by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Onshore tsunami deposits and satellite images, which show large amounts of sediment transported offshore, indicate that the seafloor was impacted by tsunami run-up and backwash. In this study, high-resolution maps of sediment distribution patterns and the geological development of the seafloor are presented. These maps are based on multibeam, side-scan sonar and seismic profiling surveys offshore Khao Lak. Paleoreefs, with associated boulder fields and sandy sediment dominate the inner continental shelf. Patches of fine-grained (silt to fine sand) sediments exist in water depths of less than 15 m. The sediment distribution pattern is stable between 2008 and 2010, apart from small shifts regarding the boundaries of the fine-grained sediment patches. In one sediment core and several grab samples an event layer was documented, situated below a cover of modern sediments which is only a few cm thick. The event-layer is traced down to 18 m water depth. It consists mostly of sand and contains compounds of terrigenous origin. It is interpreted as a 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami deposit. However, over large areas of the study-site, the impact of the tsunami is hardly identifiable by seafloor morphology or sediment distribution.