Assessment of heavy metals pollution in the sediments of Lifeb-Busaf (northwest of Persian Gulf) using Geo-accumulation Index

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate heavy metals concentration in the sediments of Lifeh and Busaf coastal waters. Four stations in the Khore-Mussa western coasts were sampled seasonally from winter 2006 to autumn 2007. Concentration of Hg was measured using Voltammeter and other metals were analyzed using Polarography method. The mean concentrations were 68.8 for Zn, 23.5 for Pb, 21.8 for Cu, 12.8 for Co, 2.14 for Cd, 73.6 for Ni and 0.19 for Hg in mg/kg. According to the concentration results we ranked the heavy metals as: Ni > Zn > Pb > Cu > Co > Cd > Hg. Based on Muller geochemical index (IgeO), sediment quality for Pb and Hg is in class II (moderately polluted) and for other metals is in class 0 (unpolluted). The similarity between stations and different parameters were demonstrated using PCA and Clustering analyses. Although significant differences were not observed between the studied stations, but PCA analysis of heavy metals concentrations showed some similarity and differences between them. These similarities might be linked to geochemical characters of sediments and the nature of water currents in the study area.