Assessment of arsenic in coastal sediments, seawaters and molluscs in the Tarut Island, Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia

Journal Article

El-Sorogy, Abdelbaset . 2016

• رابط المنشور على الويب: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.10.001

مستخلص المنشور

In order to assess arsenic on the Tarut coast, Saudi Arabian Gulf, 38 sediment samples, 26 seawater
samples and 40 gastropod and bivalve specimens were collected for analyses by Inductively Coupled
Plasma-Mass Spectrometer. The Enrichment Factor (EF), the Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo) and the
Contamination Factor (CF) indicated that coastal sediments of Tarut Island are severely enriched, strongly
polluted and very highly contaminated with arsenic as a result of anthropogenic inputs. Comparison with
arsenic in coastal sediments, seawaters and molluscs in the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and abroad coasts
suggested that the studied samples have higher concentrations of As. The suggested natural sources of
arsenic in the study area are the weathering and decomposition of neighboring deserts. The anthropogenic
sources include the land reclamation, petrochemical industries, boat exhaust emissions, oil leakage,
desalination plants and sewage effluents. These anthropogenic sources are the dominant sources of As in
the study area and mostly came from Al Jubail industrial city to the north.