Distribution of Lead, Cadmium, and Vanadium in Lebanese Coastal Sediments and Mussels

Abstract

To evaluate Lebanon coastal contamination by trace metals (Pb, Cd, and V), we measured their distributions in marine sediments and in bioindicator mussels (Brachidontes variabilis) along the Lebanese coastal zone. Seven sampling sites, Itanieh, Jiyeh, Beirut, Byblos, Batroun, Tripoli, and Arida, were selected. Trace-metal concentrations, determined in pelitic fraction of the sediment (,63 lm), were the highest in Tripoli sediments for Pb (104.4 lg g À1 ) and Cd (0.23 lg g À1 ), and in Arida for V (270 lg g À1 ). In B. variabilis, the highest Pb concentrations corresponded to mussels collected from Batroun (6.32 lg g À1 ), whereas the highest Cd concentrations were obtained in the Palms Island (off Tripoli) (1.3 lg g À1 ) and the highest V levels in Batroun (4.94 lg g À1 ). The determination of the geoaccumulation index shows that the investigated sediments on the Lebanese coast are unpolluted with Cd, moderately to strongly polluted with V at Arida, and extremely polluted with Pb at Tripoli. Pb concentrations in mussels B. variabilis are low compared with levels obtained in polluted areas in the world. However, Cd levels in the studied bioindicators at Batroun and Tripoli are similar to those obtained in other Mediterranean moderately polluted sites. High Cd and V levels in mussels collected at Batroun clearly show the anthropogenic impact of the nearby fertilizer plant.ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Trace metals, Pb, Cd, V, marine sediments, mussels, Lebanon.

The effect of size, weight, body compartment, sex and reproductive status on the bioaccumulation of 19 trace elements in rope-grown Mytilus galloprovincialis

“…(RNO, 2006). It can result from the combined effect of the pond confinement, the important aquaculture activity with regard to the pond size, inputs from the water runoff from part of the catchment basin of Bravona and from the 3 small streams feeding the pond (important precipitations in eastern Corsica in late January 2011; www.meteofrance.com) and releases from sediments (Orsoni et al, 2001;Amiard et al, 2008;Santos-Echeandia et al, 2009;Abi-Ghanem et al, 2013).…”

Evaluation of metallic pollution of north eastern Algerian coasts using the demosponge Chondrilla nucula Schmidt, 1862

“…However, there are some disadvantages as well, because the quantity of captivated metals depends on the sediment quality, and takes into account only the total and not the metal which is bioavailable (Rainbow, 1995), offering a low representativeness of the overall contamination of the ecosystem. Thus, the biota is now used for marine environment biomonitoring programmes to obtain more informations about the ecosystem health status (Amoozadeh et al, 2013;Abi-Ghanem et al, 2014;Caricato et al, 2019;Pereira et al, 2019Cappello et al, 2021. Therefore, considerable efforts have been achieved in order to ameliorate integrative tools for the assessment of chemical impacts on the environment (Batista et al, 2013).…”