QE26 : Evaluation of heavy mextals pollution in surface sediments of coast line of north-east of Strait of Hormoz and its origin
Thesis > Central Library of Shahrood University > Geosciences > MSc > 2009
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Abstarct: Environmental pollution is of major problems in the modern and developing societies. Entrainment of heavy mextals into the food chain is an environmental issue whose hazards have attracted many attentions from researchers. Strait of Hormoz is a major waterway for oil cargo where pollution by wide variety of contaminants including heavy mextals is expected. The present research dealt with the evaluation of pollution in superficial sediments by heavy mextals in Jask and Sirik, two ports located in the east coast of Strait of Hormoz. Sediment samples were taken from 16 stations where the water depth was 5 and 10 m along the coastline of Jask and Sirik. Sedimentological characteristics of the samples including size, pH, and density were determined using standard methods. ICP-MS was employed to measure the concentration of heavy mextals. The collected data was statistically analyzed and interpreted and the variation of concentrations was drawn by MS-Excel 2003 for different stations in Jask and Sirik. Also, to show a better presentation of heavy mextals distribution in 5 and 10 m of water depths, iso-concentration lines were plotted using Surfer 8.0. Having geological and mineralogical information and the land use in the study area, geo-statistical methods were employed in order to identify the sources of heavy mextals in the sediments. The average values for the concentration of Cr, Fe, Mn, V, Ni, Pb, Hg, and As were 70.25, 2.45, 665.63, 34.25, 97.33, 10.44, 0.03, and 5.29 (all in ppm) in Sirik and 67.5, 2.88, 637.87, 39.12, 97.4, 13.03, 0.03, and 4.52 (all in ppm) in Jask respectively. A comparison between the concentration of elements in the two ports showed that the average concentration of As, Mn, and Cr in Sirik were higher while the concentration of Hg, Pb, Ni, V, and Fe in Jask were more than in Sirik sediments. Contamination factor showed a low contamination level for all elements (except for Ni) in both regions in superficial sediments in Jask and Sirik. Nickel contamination factor (1.42) indicated a medium contamination in both ports which implies more probable oil pollution in these areas. Contamination degrees in the stations were determined which indicate a low contamination in the stations. The sources of heavy mextals were studied and the results showed that different anthropogenic and geogenic sources were responsible for the presence of heavy mextal in the superficial sediments.
Keywords:
#Pollution #heavy mextals #sediments #Sirik Port #Jask Port Link
Keeping place: Central Library of Shahrood University
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Keeping place: Central Library of Shahrood University
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