Environmental Sciences Department, Faculty of Science, Port Said University, Port Said 42522, Egypt.
Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, P.O. 11884, Cairo, Egypt.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2024 Jan;198:115930. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115930. Epub 2023 Dec 14.
This study assessed pollution levels, ecological and health risk, and spatial distribution of eight heavy metals in sediments of Big Giftun and Abu Minqar Islands, Red Sea, Egypt. Iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) had the highest contents in both island sediments, while cobalt (Co) in Big Giftun and cadmium (Cd) in Abu Mingar had the lowest values. The obtained PCA data exhibited positively significant loadings of Cd, Co, copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn) with 51.03 % of data variance in Big Giftun, and lead (Pb), Cu, Mn, Ni, Zn, and Fe (37.7 %) in Abu Minqar sediments. The contamination factor (CF) showed low contamination for all metals, except cadmium; Cd (moderate). The geo-accumulation index (I) values showed uncontaminated (Cd, Co), moderately (Cu), extremely contaminated (Fe, Mn) (I > 5) in Big Giftun, and uncontaminated (Cd), moderately to strongly contaminated (Cu, Ni), and extremely contaminated (Fe, Mn, and Zn) in Abu Minqar sediments. The pollution load index (PLI) values indicated baseline level of contamination (PLI <1), and degree of contamination (DC) indicated low degree of contamination (DC < n) in all sediments. Nemerow pollution index (NPI) showed unpolluted sediments in Abu Minqar (NPI ≤1) and slight pollution (1 < NPI ≤2) in Big Giftun. Cd showed moderate potential ecological risk (40 ≤ Er < 80) in Big Giftun sediments. Potential ecological risk index (PERI) indicated low risk sediments (PERI <150). Mean effects range median quotient (MERMQ) indicated low-priority risk of toxicity (MERMQ ≤0.1), and toxic risk index (TRI) showed no toxic risk in all sediments (TRI <5). The modified hazard quotient (mHQ) indicated very low severity of contamination (mHQ <0.5). The hazard quotient (HQ) levels of all metals were below the safe value (HQ <1). The hazard index (HI) levels indicated that no chronic risks occur (HI <1). The total cancer risk (TCR) for all metals were below the safe level (1 × 10) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) guidelines.
本研究评估了埃及红海比格特恩岛和阿布明加尔岛沉积物中 8 种重金属的污染水平、生态和健康风险以及空间分布。铁（Fe）和锰（Mn）在两个岛屿的沉积物中含量最高，而钴（Co）在比格特恩岛和镉（Cd）在阿布明加尔岛的含量最低。主成分分析（PCA）数据显示，在比格特恩岛，镉（Cd）、钴（Co）、铜（Cu）、镍（Ni）和锌（Zn）与 51.03%的数据方差呈正显著负荷，而在阿布明加尔岛沉积物中，铅（Pb）、Cu、Mn、Ni、Zn 和 Fe（37.7%）也呈正显著负荷。污染因子（CF）显示所有金属均为低污染，除镉（Cd）为中度污染。地积累指数（I）值显示，在比格特恩岛，除镉（Cd）、钴（Co）为无污染，铜（Cu）为中度污染，铁（Fe）、锰（Mn）为极度污染（I>5）外，其余均为无污染；在阿布明加尔岛沉积物中，镉（Cd）为无污染，铜（Cu）为中度至强污染，镍（Ni）、铁（Fe）、锰（Mn）和锌（Zn）为极度污染。污染负荷指数（PLI）值表明污染程度处于基线水平（PLI<1），污染程度（DC）表明所有沉积物的污染程度较低（DC<n）。内梅罗污染指数（NPI）显示阿布明加尔岛的沉积物为无污染（NPI≤1），比格特恩岛的沉积物为轻度污染（1<NPI≤2）。镉（Cd）在比格特恩岛沉积物中表现出中度潜在生态风险（40≤Er<80）。潜在生态风险指数（PERI）表明沉积物的风险较低（PERI<150）。平均效应区间中值商（MERMQ）表明毒性的低优先级风险（MERMQ≤0.1），毒性风险指数（TRI）表明所有沉积物均无毒性风险（TRI<5）。修正危害系数（mHQ）表明污染程度非常低（mHQ<0.5）。所有金属的危害系数（HQ）值均低于安全值（HQ<1）。危害指数（HI）值表明没有发生慢性风险（HI<1）。所有金属的总致癌风险（TCR）均低于美国环境保护署（USEPA）指南规定的安全水平（1×10）。
