Evaluation of levels of some heavy metals in marine environment, southern Iraq

Abstract

Some toxic and essential heavy metals have been evaluated at five stations of the marine water region of Basrah governorate, southern Iraq. Eight of different elements (Pb, Zn, Ni, Mn, Fe, Cu, Cr and Cd) were measured at five stations from various regions these elements were collected by using water sampler at depth 20-25 cm in low tide at summer season in 2016. They have been analyzed using flame-atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results of all measurements of heavy metals indicated the dominance zinc more than the other elements at St. 1 and St. 4 ranged from 0.144 to 0.193 mg/l, respectively. St. 2 and St. 5 exhibited the dominance of lead in the range between 0.164 and 0.253 mg/l, respectively. While, St. 3 showed the highest concentration of nickel compared with the other elements (0.190 mg/l). Standard deviation was calculated for all elements measured and were in the ranged or(0.008-0.049).

Copper in Commercial Marine Fish: From Biomonitoring to the ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) Method

“…Ong et al [16] observed five Setiu marine species with Cu levels of 0.69-3.04 mg/kg dw, while Yap and Al-Mutairi [29] recorded 19 species with 1.50-7.83 mg/kg dw. Fish muscle Cu in Malaysian coastal waters was 0.86-3.48 mg/kg dw [54].…”

“…Cu is an inherent trace metal found in the aquatic environment, existing in small amounts that are minor nutrition for plants and animals [15]. Nevertheless, if the concentration of Cu is beyond specific thresholds, it becomes detrimental to the survival of aquatic organisms [16]. It is imperative to meticulously control and supervise copper concentrations in fish to guarantee the aquatic ecosystem's and human consumers' well-being.…”

“…The accumulation of Cu in fish is affected by their dietary preferences since both carnivorous and herbivorous species can exhibit elevated levels of copper in their bodily tissues. The consequences of high Cu concentrations in fish are not entirely confirmed; however, data indicate they can cause poisoning [15,16]. Hence, it is crucial to monitor Cu levels in fish to guarantee the well-being of the aquatic environment and safety for human consumption.…”

“…Malaysians acquire 60-70% of their protein from marine fish [53]. Hence, various PTM monitoring studies have been published [15,16,50,51,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62]. Agusa et al [54] tested twenty-one trace elements (including Cu) in twelve Malaysian coastal marine fish species.…”

Study of Some Heavy Metals Concentrations from the Soil of Selected Areas at the ‎North Part of Basrah, Iraq

“…These elements are an important class of pollutants that have lethal effects and sub-lethal effects on living organisms (Younus and Al-Khafaji, 2020). There are two major sources of heavy metals in the aquatic environment of southern Iraq, natural and anthropogenic (Saleh et al, 2021). In recent years, soil Contamination by heavy metals has received great attention as a global environmental issue and the sources of release of heavy metals into the soil, especially urban soils, are coal burning, fuel, vehicle emissions, mining operations fertilizer and pesticide use, municipal solid waste disposal, and other wastes (Wei and Yang, 2010).…”