Distribution, ecological risk, and source analysis of heavy metals in recent beach sediments of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

Abstract

To study the distribution of the concentrations and the sources of pollutants and their environmental assessment in the Sharm El-Sheikh coastal area, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cd, and Co concentrations were analyzed in the beach sediments of Sharm El-Sheikh harbor and Sharm El-Maya bay by the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results revealed that Sharm El-Sheikh harbor has higher concentrations of Fe, Mn, Ni, and Cd than in Sharm El-Maya bay. Meanwhile, the environmental pollution indicators as enrichment factors, metal pollution index, contamination factors, sediments pollution index, geo-accumulation index, ecological risk factor, and the potential contamination index reported that Sharm El-Sheikh harbor has a higher degree of pollution (MPI = 43.4) than Sharm El-Maya bay (MPI = 38.2). Moreover, both of the studied areas have shown very high contamination of Cd and moderate to high contamination of Pb, Mn, Cu, and Zn. Furthermore, the concentrations of Mn, Cu, Ni, and Cd in the studied area are higher than those in the coasts of Hurghada, Shalateen, Red Sea of Saudi Arabia, and the Russian Caspian Sea. The main sources of the metals in the studied area are the human impacts as tourist activities, boat navigation, large numbers of anchored tourist boats, diving operations, and car fuel combustion products. In addition, the natural weathering of Gabal El-Safra and basement rocks can be counted as natural sources of metals.