Major ions anomalies and contamination status by trace metals in sediments from two hot spots along the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt.

Abstract

The major constituents and trace metals in the surface sediments collected from the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay along the Egyptian Mediterranean Coast were studied. The concentrations of major constituents decreased in the following order: Ca > Si > Mg > Na > K for the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay. Additionally, the ranking order of trace metals was Fe > Al > Pb > Zn > Mn > Cu > Sn > V > As > Cd > Se for the Western Harbor. For El-Mex Bay, the decreasing order was Fe > Al > Mn > Sn > Pb > Zn > Cu > V > As > Cd > Se. Fe, Al, Zn, Pb, Cu, V, Cd and Sn in the Western Harbor occurred in higher concentrations than in El-Mex Bay. A higher concentration of Mn was observed in El-Mex Bay. Two pollution indicators, enrichment factor (EF) and metal pollution index (MPI), and several sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) were used to evaluate the status of metal pollution. Based on the mean EF values of the studied metals, surface sediments of the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay revealed that they are enriched with metals from anthropogenic sources. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test showed that the mean measurements for all metals across the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay are significantly different at a 0.05 significance level. Principal components analysis (PCA) was applied in result interpretation. The spatial distribution of the different parameters was illustrated.