Elsevier

Marine Pollution Bulletin

Volume 158, September 2020, 111411
Marine Pollution Bulletin

Baseline
Distribution, source, contamination, and ecological risk status of heavy metals in the Red Sea-Gulf of Aqaba coastal sediments, Saudi Arabia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111411Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Fe, Zn, Sb, Co, Cu, Hg, Pb, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cd, and As were analyzed in 33 sediment.

  • Fe > Mn > As > Cr > Cu > Zn > Ni > Pb > Co > Cd > Hg > Sb.

  • Pb, Zn, Ni, Cu, Co, Cr, and Sb showed low ecological risk.

  • The potential ecological risk indicated considerable risk for Cd, Hg, and As.

Abstract

To investigate the distribution, source, contamination, and ecological risk status of heavy metals in the Red Sea-Gulf of Aqaba coast, Saudi Arabia, 33 surface sediment samples were collected for Fe, Zn, Sb, Co, Cu, Hg, Pb, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cd, As, and TOC analysis using ICP-MS. Three single and three multi-element contamination indices were used to assess the sediment quality. Evaluation of the three single pollution indices suggested some contamination or anthropogenic inputs with Cu, Cd, Hg, and, to a great extent, As. The potential ecological risk indicated low ecological risk at all sites for Pb, Zn, Ni, Cu, Co, Cr, and Sb; and considerable risk for Cd, Hg, and As. Moreover, the average values of Hg and As were higher than those recorded in the sediment quality guidelines. The multivariate statistical tools revealed that Fe, Mn, Cd, Cu, Co, Zn, and Cr were mostly of terrestrial origin, derived from weathering of the nearby Pre-Cambrian basement rocks, Tertiary, and Quaternary sedimentary rocks; while As, Sb, Hg, Ni, and Pb were mostly attributed to anthropogenic activities from traffic emissions, industrial activities, and the dredging of marine sediments. The results of this work will guide the future projects of environmentally sustainable development in northwest Saudi Arabia.

Section snippets

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Abdelbaset El-Sorogy:Data curation, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing.Mohamed Youssef:Data curation, Investigation, Formal analysis.Khaled Al-Kahtany:Data curation, Investigation, Formal analysis.Mohsen M. Saleh:Investigation, Formal analysis.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (MAARIFAH), King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Award Number (14-ENV183-02). Also, the authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and constructive comments.

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