Distribution, composition and risk assessment of hydrocarbon residue in surficial sediments of El-Dakhla, El-Kharga and El-Farafra oases, Egypt.

This work examined the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes quantities, sources, and hazards in sediments collected from the Egyptian Western Desert Oases namely: Dakhla, Kharga and Farafra oases. The n-alkane (C9-C20) residue concentrations have ranged from 0.66 to 2417.91 µg/g recorded for the three Oases. On the other hand, the total n-alkane ranged from 448.54 µg/g to 8442.60 µg/g. Higher carbon preference index (CPI) values (> 1.0) proposed that the natural sources could be the main contributor to n-alkanes in the Oases sediment. GC-MS/MS (selected reaction monitoring (SRM) method) was used for the determination of the ΣPAHs concentrations in the studied sediments. The ΣPAHs concentrations (ng/g, dry weight) in the studied three Oases varied from 10.18 to 790.14, 10.55 to 667.72, and from 38.27 to 362.77 for the Kharga, Dakhla and Farafra Oases, respectively. The higher molecular weight PAHs were the most abundant compounds in the collected samples. Assessing potential ecological and human health issues highlighted serious dangers for living things and people. All the investigated PAHs had cancer risk values between 1.43 × 10-4 and 1.64 × 10-1, this finding suggests that PAHs in the samples under study pose a moderate risk of cancer. The main sources of PAHs in this study are biomass, natural gas, and gasoline/diesel burning emissions.

Chlorinated pesticides and PCB residues in the Egyptian Western Desert oases sediments.

This preliminary investigation aimed to detect concentrations of chlorinated pesticides and PCBs in 40 sediment samples from three desert oases located in Kharga, Dakhla and Farafra in western Egypt. The residues of 18 PCBs and 16 chlorinated pesticides were measured by GC-MS/MS (SRM) method. The results showed that PCBs and pesticides were present in all studied samples. The concentrations of individual PCBs ranged from undetected to 3.99 ng/g dw in all these sediment samples. The total residue of pesticides (ng/g, dry weight) in sediment samples also varied from 5.18 to 25.92, 5.41 to 29.49, and 5.93 to 24.19 ng/g dw for the Kharga, Dakhla and Farafra Oases, respectively. The concentrations of PCBs and chlorinated pesticides detected in these oasis sediments were lower than that reported for other worldwide locations. According to the recorded concentrations in this baseline study of PCBs and total DDTs, the results revealed the minimal risks to organisms and people in the studied area according to the Effects Range-Low (ERL) and Effects Range-Median (ERM) guideline values.

Combining multivariate analysis and human risk indices for assessing heavy metal contents in muscle tissues of commercially fish from Southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia.

Jizan fishers are the major fish source for more than 1.5 million populations in the southern region in Saudi Arabia. Despite the overgrowing of various man-made activities in Jizan City, no recent study on environmental monitoring was reported. In the current study, heavy metals were quantified in muscle tissues of 12 fish species, as the most edible, from Jizan fisheries. Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used for quantification after microwave wet digestion. Acceptable recovery values (83.46-97.48%) for spiked fish samples with standard solutions were obtained. The following wide ranges of heavy metal concentrations (µg/g, wet weight) in studied fish species were recorded: V (0.004-0.561), Cr (0.013-0.477), Mn (0.073-0.128), As (0.002-0.935), Se (0.083-3.058), Sn (2.835-5.540), and Pb (0.150-0.386). Comparing with international permissible limits, lower levels were recorded in the current study. For total metal accumulation, the relationship between species was examined by cluster analysis, which showed that Epinephelinae was the farthest species from others. The principal component analysis shows one component indicating normal distribution of heavy metals in fish species. Different metal pollution indices (1.35-0.30), which shows the distribution of the total heavy metal concentrations in each species, were recorded. The hazard indices for muscle consumption were less than 1.0 for all studied metals at both ingestion rates except Sn which showed a marginal value of 28.9.

Detection of persistent OCPs and PCBs congeners in the near-shore coastal waters of Alexandria, Egypt.

The residues of 19 EPA-organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in water samples collected from the near-shore surface water of Alexandria coast, Egypt, using gas chomatograph-electron capture detector (GC-ECD) and gas chromatograph-mass spectometer (GC-MS). Higher concentrations of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH)s, TC, and 2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane (DDT)s with 1.36, 0.556, and 36.97 ngl(-1) were recorded, respectively, with a maximum of 165.46 ngl(-1) of PCBs during June 2014, which was clearly affected by higher sewage activities during summer season. Among DDTs metabolites, p,p-DDT was the most dominant with a maximum of 36.31 ngl(-1) recorded at El-Montazah station during June 2014.

Major ions anomalies and contamination status by trace metals in sediments from two hot spots along the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt.

The major constituents and trace metals in the surface sediments collected from the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay along the Egyptian Mediterranean Coast were studied. The concentrations of major constituents decreased in the following order: Ca > Si > Mg > Na > K for the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay. Additionally, the ranking order of trace metals was Fe > Al > Pb > Zn > Mn > Cu > Sn > V > As > Cd > Se for the Western Harbor. For El-Mex Bay, the decreasing order was Fe > Al > Mn > Sn > Pb > Zn > Cu > V > As > Cd > Se. Fe, Al, Zn, Pb, Cu, V, Cd and Sn in the Western Harbor occurred in higher concentrations than in El-Mex Bay. A higher concentration of Mn was observed in El-Mex Bay. Two pollution indicators, enrichment factor (EF) and metal pollution index (MPI), and several sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) were used to evaluate the status of metal pollution. Based on the mean EF values of the studied metals, surface sediments of the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay revealed that they are enriched with metals from anthropogenic sources. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test showed that the mean measurements for all metals across the Western Harbor and El-Mex Bay are significantly different at a 0.05 significance level. Principal components analysis (PCA) was applied in result interpretation. The spatial distribution of the different parameters was illustrated.

Organochlorine contaminants in water, sediment and fish of Lake Burullus, Egyptian Mediterranean Sea.

Lake Burullus is one of the Delta lakes, connected with the Mediterranean Sea through El Boughaz opening. Concentrations of organochlorine contaminants were measured in water, sediments and biota of the lake because of concerns about their effects on its productivity. The concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons decreased in the order of PCBs > DDTs > TC > HCHs for all water samples collected from Lake Burullus during 2006. Higher concentrations were recorded during summer season, this clearly affected by higher agricultural and sewage activities. The concentrations of DDTs in water were ranged from 0.07 to 221.9 ng L(-1); 46.3-656.5 ng L(-1); 94.3-882.6 ng L(-1) and 24.8-233 ng L(-1) during winter, spring, summer and autumn, respectively. Among DDTs metabolites p,p-DDE was the most dominant with a maximum of 520.13 ng L(-1) recorded at station 10 (El Boughaz opening). In sediment samples, PCBs concentrations were ranged from 4.6 to 213.9 ng g(-1) with an average 47.2 ng g(-1); dry weight. Total pesticides were higher than PCBs for mostly all sediment samples of Lake Burullus. Concentrations of DDTs in fish tissues were ranged from 2.76 to 24.23 ng g(-1) and from 14.16 to 45.13 ng g(-1); wet weight for Oresochromus niloticus and Clarries sp., respectively.

Distribution and sources of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments, fish and bivalves of Abu Qir Bay (Egyptian Mediterranean Sea).

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected and quantified in recent marine sediments and selected species from fishes, bivalves and crustaceans of Abu Qir Bay during the period January-October 2004. Nineteen sampling stations were chosen to collect sediment samples covering almost the Bay area. Total PAHs found in the surficial bottom sediments of the Bay were identified in moderate values ranging between 69 and 1,464 ng/g dry weights. The distribution pattern of these compounds showed the availability of most di, tri- and tetra aromatics in the Bay area in addition to their alkyl derivatives. High molecular weight aromatic hydrocarbons of five or more ring were detected everywhere in the Bay sediments. Certain number of pairs of isomer PAH concentrations are used for five origin molecular indices to identify the PAH concentration sources in the sediments of the Bay: Fluo/Py, Fluo/[Fluo + Py], LMW/HMW, BbF/BaP and BkF/BaP. Abu Qir Bay sediment samples were contaminated mainly by pyrolytic and petrogenic contaminations with strong pyrolytic inputs in the southwestern basin, while the northeastern area of the Bay is contaminated mainly by petrogenic PAHs. The studied biota samples of the Bay revealed levels of moderately contaminated specimens with total PAHs, while the carcinogenic PAH, benzo(a)pyrene were detected in most biological samples in levels ranged between 30.3 and 358 ng/g with an average of 152.4 ng/g should be taken into consideration.

The distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments along the Egyptian Mediterranean coast.

Coastal marine sediment samples were collected from 31 sampling stations along the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea coast. All sediment samples were analyzed to determine aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as total organic carbon (TOC) contents and grain size analysis. Total concentrations of 16 EPA-PAHs in the sediments were varied from 88 to 6338 ng g(-1) with an average value of 154 ng g(-1) (dry weight). However, the concentrations of total aliphatic were varied from 1.3 to 69.9 ng g(-1) with an average value of 15.6 ng g(-1) (dry weight). The highest contents of PAHs were found in the Eastern harbor (6338 ng g(-1)), Manzala (5206 ng g(-1)) and El-Jamil East (4895 ng g(-1)) locations. Good correlations observed between a certain numbers of PAH concentrations allowed to identify its origin. The average total organic carbon (TOC) percent was varied from 0.91 to 4.54%. Higher concentration of total pyrolytic hydrocarbons ( summation operatorCOMB) than total fossil hydrocarbons ( summation operatorPHE) declared that atmospheric fall-out is the significant source of PAHs to marine sediments of the Egyptian Mediterranean coast. The selected marked compounds, a principal component analysis (PCA) and special PAHs compound ratios (phenanthrene/anthracene vs fluoranthene/pyrene; summation operatorCOMB/ summation operatorEPA-PAHs) suggest the pyrogenic origins, especially traffic exhausts, are the dominant sources of PAHs in most locations. Interferences of rather petrogenic and pyrolytic PAH contaminations were noticed in the harbors due to petroleum products deliveries and fuel combustion emissions from the ships staying alongside the quays.

Determination of hydrocarbons in mussels from the Egyptian Red Sea coast.

Mussels (Brachidontes Sp.) collected in April 2000 from the Red Sea coastal of Egypt in order to determine the contamination by hydrocarbons. The study included 11 sampling stations covering about 450 Km of the Egyptian Red Sea coast for the first time. Total concentrations of 20 aliphatics (average 0.105 ng g(-1) of wet weight) and sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (average 5452 ng g(-1) of wet weight) were generally lower in comparison with those reported for some of the published surveillance and monitoring studies of coastal areas from various regions. These results suggest that the coastal area in the Red Sea of Egypt might be considered as a relatively unpolluted.

Polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorinated pesticides in mussels from the Egyptian Red Sea coast.

The residues of 17 organochlorine pollutants were analyzed in bivalve Brachiodontes sp. collected from 11 different locations in April 2000 along the Egyptian Red Sea coast. The pollutants studied were 10 individual polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners, alpha,alpha,alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCHs), cyclodienes (heptachlor, heptachlorepoxide, aldrin, dieldrin) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) (p,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDT). The concentration of total DDTs ranged between 125 and 772 ng/g of wet weight whereas the concentration of the PCBs, HCHs and cyclodienes ranged from 6.7 to 66.4 ng/g; 16.2 to 183.4 ng/g and 8.8 to 221.6 ng/g of wet weight, respectively. The levels are low to moderate in relation to the published data from other coastal areas. The present results indicate low to moderate PCBs and pesticides contamination in the investigated mussels except DDTs.