Distribution and accumulation of heavy metals in sediments of the northern part of mangrove in Hara Biosphere Reserve, Qeshm Island (Persian Gulf)

Rezvan Zarezadeh, Peyman Rezaee, Razyeh Lak, Mehdi Masoodi and Mansoor Ghorbani
Additional contact information
Rezvan Zarezadeh: Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Hormozgan University, Bandar Abbás, Iran
Peyman Rezaee: Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Hormozgan University, Bandar Abbás, Iran
Razyeh Lak: Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geological Survey, Tehran, Iran
Mehdi Masoodi: Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Hormozgan University, Bandar Abbás, Iran
Mansoor Ghorbani: Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Hormozgan University, Bandar Abbás, Iran

Soil and Water Research, 2017, vol. 12, issue 2, 86-95

Abstract: The mangrove of Hara Biosphere Reserve, stretching over 100 thousand hectares in the southern coast of Iran and in the northwest of Qeshm Island, belongs to the most important and largest mangroves in the Middle East. Twenty sedimentary samples were collected and concentrations of seven heavy metals were investigated in order to assess the extent of pollution distribution in this area and to discuss the origin of these contaminants in sediments. The mean heavy metal concentrations followed the scheme: Fe > Cr > Ni > Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd. Based on the geo-accumulation index, the Fe, Pb, Zn, and Cu levels were graded as non-contamination, the levels of Cr and Ni as non-contamination to moderate contamination, while those of Cd as moderate contamination to moderate to heavy contamination. According to the enrichment factor and quantification of contamination calculations, Cu, Pb, and Zn were derived mainly from natural processes and exposure of material from the Earth's crust, while the increased values of Cd, Ni, and Cr were ascribed to anthropogenic activities. The ecological risk of heavy metals was moderate, largely due to Cd contamination. The elevated values identified for Cd, Ni, and Cr are supposingly associated with activities including human refuse, shipping, transportation, fuel smuggling, and industrial wastewater discharges from factories located around Hara Biosphere Reserve (e.g. Al-Mahdi aluminum factory, lead and zinc Qeshm factory, and Hormozgan cement factory).

Keywords: anthropogenic; contamination; ecological risk; pollution; sediments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://swr.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/16/2016-SWR.html (text/html)
http://swr.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/16/2016-SWR.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlswr:v:12:y:2017:i:2:id:16-2016-swr

DOI: 10.17221/16/2016-SWR

Access Statistics for this article

Soil and Water Research is currently edited by Ing. Markéta Knížková, (Executive Editor)

More articles in Soil and Water Research from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().