International Journal of Marine Science 2016, Vol.6, No.26, 1-13
1
ResearchArticle Open Access
Assessment of Heavy Metals Pollution using Sediments and Bivalve
Brachidontes
variabilis
as Bioindicator in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt
Khalid M. El-Moselhy
1,
, Eman M. Saad
2
, Reda F. El-Shaarway
2
, Lamiaa I. Mohamadein
1
, Safaa A. Mahmoud
2
1. Marine Pollution Lab, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Egypt
2. Chemistry Dept., Faculty of Science, Suez University, Egypt
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Marine Science
2016, Vol.6, No.26 doi
Received: 18 Jun., 2016
Accepted: 08 Aug., 2016
Published: 22 Aug., 2016
This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
El-Moselhy K.M., Saad E.M., El-Shaarway R.F., Mohamadein L.I., and Mahmoud S.A., 2016, Assessment of Heavy Metals Pollution using Sediments and
Bivalve
Brachidontes variabilis
as Bioindicator in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt, International Journal of Marine Science, 6(26): 1-13 (doi:
)
Abstract
The present work aimed to assess the quality of the coastal area of the Gulf of Suez by using sediments and bivalve
Brachidontes variabilis
to monitor heavy metal ions (Cd(II), Pb(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II)) at different stations along the western side of
the gulf. The samples were collected twice per year (summer and winter) from seven stations representing different pollution sources.
The concentration of studied heavy metal ions were determined using flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results
showed that the heavy metal ions levels ranging from 1.34-2.60, 5.74-51.12, 3.37-57.91 and 14.69-95.96 µg/g (sediments) and
0.18-0.56, 0.53-2.54, 2.11-4.38 and 8.12-17.04 µg/g (
B. variabilis
) for Cd(II), Pb(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions, respectively. In summer
season, the high values of the most studied metals were showed, with significant difference (p < 0.05) for Pb only. The indices such
as contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI) and metal pollution index (MPI) were estimated in sediments and biva lve
species to assess the degree of contamination from heavy metals at the different investigated stat ions. The obtained data indicated
that the present study area was varied between low and moderate contamination with progressive decline in the quality of the
investigated sites.
Keywords
Heavy Metals; Sediments;
Brachidontes variabilis
; Gulf of Suez; Pollution indices; Bioindicator
1 Introduction
More than half the world’s population lives within 60 km of the shoreline and this could rise to three-quarters by
the year 2020. Adverse anthropogenic impacts on the coastal environment include eutrophication, organic, heavy
metals, microbial pollution and oil spills. So, levels of contaminants in the marine environment are increasing
continuously. In order to establish adequate coastal management programs, it is important to characterize the
environment of concern chemically (Kesavan
et al
., 2013). The extent of contamination can be assessed by
measuring pollutant concentrations in water, sediments and aquatic organisms.
Heavy metals pollution has been a hot issue in marine environmental studies for many years. Even though metals
occur naturally in the environment, due to the anthropogenic inputs which originate from various human activities
the concentrations have been rising (Kanakaraju
et al
., 2008; Lias
et al
., 2013). Increased coastal population, rapid
urbanization, oil production, industrial and tourism development, in addition to various economic activities have
created numerous environmental and ecological problems in Egyptian’s coastal areas. The western northern part
of the Gulf of Suez, which is an industrial development area in Egypt, is suffered from different pollution
problems. These lead to raise the pollutants such as heavy metals and hydrocarbons and consequently may affect
the marine organisms.
Heavy metal pollution of marine biota is an environmental concern worldwide. Sessile benthic molluscs are used
as quantitative biological indicators for monitoring chemical contaminants in marine environments. This
monitoring tool was first proposed by Goldberg (1975) and launched as the "International Muss el Watch",
promoting the use of bivalves as the main sentinel organisms (N.A.S., 1980). Molluscs (both bivalve and
