Geochemical and foraminiferal analyses of the bottom sediments of Dammam coast, Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia

Journal Article

مستخلص المنشور

Bottom sediment samples were collected from
17 locations of the Dammam coast, Dammam city,
Saudi Arabia in April 2014. The concentrations of iron,
chromium, manganese, nickel, zinc, cadmium, lead, and
copper in the bottom sediments were measured by inductively
coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS).
The mean metal concentrations are Fe (372.4 μg/g), Mn
(5.9 μg g−1), Zn (5.1 μg g−1), Cu (6.3 μg g−1), Pb
(2.1 μg g−1), Ni (4.4 μg g−1), Cr (6.5 μg g−1), and
Cd (0.1 μg g−1). The distribution of benthic foraminifera
in the collected samples was investigated. Twentynine
species of 12 genera under nine families and three
suborders were recorded. The most common genera are
Peneroplis and Quinqueloculina which attain 39 and
38 % of the recorded fauna, respectively. The other
common genera which were recorded in the study area
are as follows: Ammonia (9 %), Spiroloculina (6 %),
Triloculina (5 %), Sorites (1.1 %), and Textularaia
(1 %). The other genera that have been recorded represent
minor constituents. Some species exhibit abnormal
test morphologies that may indicate environmental
stress.