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Assessment of heavy metal pollution and

ecological risk in marine sediments (A case study:
Persian Gulf)

Habib Janadeleh, Sadigheh Jahangiri & Mohammad Ali Kameli

To cite this article: Habib Janadeleh, Sadigheh Jahangiri & Mohammad Ali Kameli (2018):
Assessment of heavy metal pollution and ecological risk in marine sediments (A case study:
Persian Gulf), Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, DOI:
10.1080/10807039.2018.1443792

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10807039.2018.1443792

Published online: 13 Mar 2018.

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HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT
https://doi.org/10.1080/10807039.2018.1443792

Assessment of heavy metal pollution and ecological risk

in marine sediments (A case study: Persian Gulf)
a
Habib Janadeleh , Sadigheh Jahangirib, and Mohammad Ali Kamelic
a
Department of Environmental Science, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran; bDepartment of
Environmental Management, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran; cDepartment of Soil
Science, Agriculture Faculty, Shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This study was made to determine the pollution status and potential Received 28 December 2017
ecological risk of heavy metals in sediment of Persian Gulf. Surface Revised manuscript
sediments were collected seasonally by Peterson grab, and the accepted 19 February 2018
concentrations of heavy metals were measured by using inductively KEYWORDS
coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP–OES). The range metals; enrichment factor;
concentrations obtained in mg/kg were 10,800–22,400 for Fe, 5.32– sediment pollution; potential
10.12 for Pb, 24.63–42.38 for Ni, 22.52–39.46 for Cu, and 31.64–47.20 ecological risk; geo-
for Cr. The concentrations of Pb, Ni, Cu, and Cr have been found lower accumulation index
than the Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines and probable effect level
values suggesting that heavy metal contents in sediments from area of
study would not be expected to cause adverse biological effects on
the biota. The obtained enrichment factor values for various metals
were between minimal enrichment (Pb D 0.5) and extremely
enrichment (Cu D 3.11). The values of Igeo for Pb, Ni, Cu, and Cr were
characterized under no pollution (0). The highest value of potential
ecological risk index (RI) (8.36) was observed at St. 4 while the lowest
value (5.25) was detected at station 6. Based on potential ecological RI,
the Persian Gulf had low ecological risk.

Introduction
Heavy metals in marine sediments have natural and anthropogenic origin: Distribution and
accumulation are influenced by sediment texture, mineralogical composition, reduction/oxi-
dation state, and desorption processes and physical transport. Moreover, metals can be
absorbed from the water column onto fine particle surfaces and move thereafter toward sedi-
ments; metals participate in various biogeochemical mechanisms, have significant mobility,
can affect the ecosystems through bio-accumulation process, and are potentially toxic to
environment and for human life (Manahan 2000). Heavy metal is one of the main groups
of those pollutants which could enter via wastewaters or atmospheric deposition This sort of
contaminants may sink in sediment or enter directly into aquatic organisms (Janadeleh and
Kameli 2017). Heavy metals are ubiquitous, highly persistent, and non-biodegradable with

CONTACT Habib Janadeleh habib.janadele@gmail.com Department of Environmental Science, Ahvaz Branch,

Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/bher.
© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 H. JANADELEH ET AL.

long biological half-lives and they can accumulate in soils at environmentally hazardous lev-
els. Metals in essential and non-essential forms accumulate in nature especially in sediments
(Janadeleh and Kardani 2016). The toxicity of metals is highly influenced by geochemical
factors that influence metal bioavailability (Kameli et al. 2017) and their attentions world-
wide due to its toxic effects even at very low concentrations is given (Khaniki 2007; Moham-
madpourfard et al. 2015). Marine sediments are very important accumulation site of metals
in the coastal areas; therefore, analyses of these metals are important to assess the degree of
pollution in the marine environment (Alomary and Belhadj 2007). In the bottom sediments,
the distribution of heavy metals is affected by mineralogical and chemical composition of
suspended material, anthropogenic influences, and situational processes such as deposition,
sorption, enrichment in organism, etc. (Jain et al. 2005). Thus, in the natural conditions of
the aquatic system, suspended and bed sediments play an important role in buffering higher
metal concentrations of water particularly by adsorption and coprecipitation (Janadeleh
et al. 2017). Sediments also provide habitat and a food sources for benthic faunas (Yi et al.
2011). The Persian Gulf is a strategic region in the Middle East. Furthermore, it is well
known as the most active oil production region in the world. This gulf between the last three
decades has been affected by two major oil spills. The first occurred in the Iran–Iraq War in
1983, and the second occurred during the 1991 Gulf War (Elhakeem et al. 2007). Also, this
region has a complex and interesting ecosystem, and is influenced by anthropogenic activi-
ties including shipping and transport, the oil and petrochemical industry, fishing, agricul-
ture, harbor, mining, residential and commercial wastewater (Karbassi and Bayati 2005).
Also the Persian Gulf is the main source of fishery in the south of Iran (Abdolahpur Monikh
et al. 2014). Unique ecological conditions of the Persian Gulf and the variety of pollutions
threatening this marine environment have led researchers to carry out several relevant stud-
ies (Biati et al. 2010a,b, 2012; Biati and Karbassi 2010). The objectives of the present study
were to assess the pollution status and potential ecological risk of the surface sediments from
the Persian Gulf (north coast of Hormuz Strait).

Methods and materials

A map of Persian Gulf indicating the field sampling points in the studied areas (sample
locations and names) is given in Figure 1. Surface coastal marine sediments from eight
different sites along the north coast of Hormuz Strait (Persian Gulf) were collected in
the summer of 2015. Samples of metal analysis are prepared according to MOOPAM.
They were collected using a zinc-plated Peterson grab. A Teflon spatula was used to
extract the sediment samples from the center of grab. After collecting samples, the sur-
face sediment samples were immediately packed in airtight pre-labeled polyethylene
bags and preserved at 4 C till the metal analysis. Grain size fractions less than 63 mm
were separated for geochemical analysis (Vaezi et al. 2015). All the sediment samples
were gently air-dried at 50 C and then sieved. The sediments were weighted and placed
into a Teflon beaker and were digested using 7 mL of aqua regia (1:3HCl:HNO3). The
mixture was heated at 95 C for 1 h and refluxed for 5–10 min until the brown fumes
were no longer visible, and after cooling, 5 mL of hydrogen fluoride (HF) was added.
Then, samples were refluxed to room temperature. Sediment samples were filtered by
Whatman 0.45 mm membrane and brought to 50 mL volumes using 1 N HCl (Karbassi
et al. 2008). Finally, samples were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma–optical
 HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 3

Figure 1. Sediments’ sampling stations in north part of Persian Gulf.

emission spectrometry (ICP–OES). Pearson correlation matrix was applied to identify

the relationship between the six elements. All statistical analyses were carried out using
SPSS software (version 17.0).

Potential ecological risk index

Potential ecological risk index (RI) is introduced to assess the degree of heavy metal pollu-
tion in soil or sediments which was originally proposed by Hakanson (1980). The value of
RI can be calculated by the following equations:

i
Csurface
Cfi D i
Creference
Eri D Tri £ Cfi
X
RI D Eri

where RI is the sum of potential risk of individual heavy metal, Eir is the potential risk of
individual heavy metal, and Tir is the toxic-response factor for a given heavy metal. Further,
Cif is the contamination coefficient, Cisurface is the present concentration of heavy metals in
sediments, and Cirefrence is the reference value of the element. The background reference val-
ues (mg/kg, Cir) and toxicity coefficient (T) of heavy metals are presented in Table 1. The

Table 1. Background reference values (mg/kg, Cir) and toxicity coefficient (T) of heavy metals.
Elements Cu Cr Ni Pb

Cir 45 90 68 20
T 2 2 5 5
4 H. JANADELEH ET AL.

Table 2. Relationship among RI, Eir, and pollution levels.

Grade of ecological Grade of potential
Ei risk of single metal RI value ecological risk of environment

Ei <40 Low risk RI <150 Low risk

40 < Ei < 80 Moderate risk 150 < RI < 300 Moderate risk
80 < Ei < 160 Considerable risk 300 < RI < 600 Considerable risk
160 < Ei < 320 High risk RI >600 Very high risk
Ei >320 Very high risk

evaluated standards for the analyzing potential ecological risk factor (Eir) and potential eco-
logical RI are given in Table 2.

Results and discussion

Metal contents
Heavy metal concentrations of surface sediments from north coast of Hormuz Strait (Persian
Gulf) are shown in Table 3. The results show variable concentrations of Fe (10,800–
22,400 mg/kg), Pb (5.32–10.12 mg/kg), Ni (24.63–42.38 mg/kg), Cu (22.52–39.46 mg/kg),
and Cr (31.64–47.20 mg/kg). The highest concentrations occurred at St. 4 for Pb, Ni, and Cu
and St. 7 for Fe. The highest concentration of the Cr was determined at St. 2. The lowest Pb
and Ni concentrations were generally found at St. 6. The lowest concentration of Fe, Cu, and
Cr were found at Sts. 2, 3, and 8, respectively. Several studies have been conducted on heavy
metal contamination throughout the world (Unl€ € u et al. 2008; Tsangaris et al. 2013; Okbah
et al. 2014; Ennouri et al. 2010; Dias de Alba et al. 2011; Zhu et al. 2011; Caccia et al. 2003;
Delos and Erickson 1999; Karbassi 1998; Agah et al. 2012). The concentration of Fe in pres-
ent study is higher than that in northern Persian Gulf (Agah et al. 2012). The contents of Pb
€ u et al. 2008), Pagassitikos Gulf (Tsanga-
are lower than other studies in Gulf of Gemlik (Unl€
ris et al. 2013), Egyptian Mediterranean coast (Okbah et al. 2014), Gulf of Tunis (Ennouri
et al. 2010), Algeciras Bay of Spain (Dias de Alba et al. 2011), South China Sea (Zhu et al.
2011), Florida Bay (Caccia et al. 2003), probable effect level (PEL) and threshold effect level
Table 3. Heavy metal concentrations of surficial sediments of the north coast of Hormuz Strait (Persian
Gulf) (mg/kg).
Heavy metals

Station number Fe Pb Ni Cu Cr

1 22,100 6.71 37.28 25.11 34.22

2 10,800 9.62 32.71 30.31 47.20
3 17,300 8.86 30.85 22.52 35.75
4 19,800 10.12 42.38 39.46 45.52
5 16,200 7.40 34.29 35.63 38.81
6 18,000 5.32 24.63 24.84 44.68
7 22,400 7.03 38.37 34.65 42.48
8 20,500 6.83 31.90 28.45 31.64
Min 10,800 5.32 24.63 22.52 31.64
Max 22,400 10.12 42.38 39.46 47.20
Mean 18,388 7.73 34.05 30.12 40.03
Average shalea 47,200 20 68 45 90
a
(Turekian and Wedepohl 1961).
 HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 5

Table 4 . Comparison of concentration of heavy metals found in sediment of the north coast of Hormuz
Strait (Persian Gulf) in Iran and various other countries (mg/kg).
Locations Fe Pb Ni Cu Cr References

Gulf of Gemlik 21,000 29 110 41 117 € u et al. (2008)

Unl€
Gulf of Tunis 33,631 54.13 — 20.90 — Ennouri et al. (2010)
Pagassitikos Gulf 44,000 39.4 113 30 239 Tsangaris et al. (2013)
TEL — 30.2 15.9 18.7 52.3 Delos and Erickson (1999)
PEL — 112 42.8 108 160 Delos and Erickson (1999)
Egyptian Mediterranean coast 19,144 28.17 30.85 13.23 — Okbah et al. (2014)
Algeciras bay, Spain 30,520 25.5 81.5 15 — Dias de Alba et al. (2011)
South China Sea — 23.6 — 38.1 105 Zhu et al. (2011)
Florida Bay — 8.4 21 15 162 Caccia et al. (2003)
North western part of the Persian Gulf 28,000 43 138 44 — Karbassi (1998)
Northern Persian Gulf 15,000 7 111 20 Agah et al. (2012)
North coast of Hormuz Strait (Persian Gulf) 18,388 7.73 34.05 30.12 40.03 Present study

(TEL) (Delos and Erickson 1999), North western part of the Persian Gulf (Karbassi 1998),
except northern Persian Gulf (Agah et al. 2012). The concentration of Ni is higher than that
in Florida Bay (Caccia et al. 2003) and Egyptian Mediterranean coast (Okbah et al. 2014),
whereas, the Cu contents is lower than that in Gulf of Gemlik (Unl€ € u et al. 2008), South
China Sea (Zhu et al. 2011), and North western part of the Persian Gulf (Karbassi 1998).
€ u et al. 2008; Tsangaris et al. 2013; Okbah
The content of Cr is lower in other studies (Unl€
et al. 2014; Ennouri et al. 2010; Dias de Alba et al. 2011; Zhu et al. 2011; Caccia et al. 2003;
Delos and Erickson 1999; Karbassi 1998; Agah et al. 2012). Also the concentrations of heavy
metals in present study were lower than those found in the average shale (Turekian and
Wedepohl 1961) (Table 3).
The main limitation of sediment chemistry data is that, by itself, it cannot provide a
basis of assessing the potential biological effects of contaminated sediments without the
development or utilization of Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs). These guidelines
are scientific tools that synthesize information on the relationship between the sediment
concentrations of chemicals and any adverse biological effects resulting from exposure
to these chemicals. For each parameter of interest, the guidelines have identified two
numerical levels, the lower level is termed Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines (ISQG)
value and the higher level is called the probable effect level (PEL) value. Sediment
chemical concentrations below ISQG value are not expected to be associated with any
adverse biological effects, while concentrations higher than PEL values are expected to
be frequently associated with adverse biological effects. In this study, when compared
with the priority toxic pollutants listed in USEPA (Delos and Erickson 1999), the con-
centrations of Pb, Ni, Cu, and Cr have been found lower than the ISQG and PEL val-
ues (Table 4), suggesting that Pb, Ni, Cu, and Cr in sediments from north coast of
Hormuz Strait (Persian Gulf) would not be expected to cause adverse biological effects
on the biota.

Enrichment factor
In this study, the enrichment factor (EF) technique was used to assess the level of contami-
nation in the sediments of Persian Gulf. According to this technique, metal concentrations
were normalized to metal concentrations of average shale (Ghrefat and Yusuf 2006). Widely
6 H. JANADELEH ET AL.

Table 5. Enrichment factor (EF) of various metals in surface sediments of the north coast of Hormuz Strait
(Persian Gulf).
Station number Pb Ni Cu Cr

1 0.75 1.14 1.22 0.78

2 1.5 2.14 3.11 2.26
3 1.25 1.21 1.44 1.05
4 1.25 1.5 2.11 1.15
5 1 1.5 2.33 1.21
6 0.5 1.35 1.44 1.26
7 0.75 1.21 1.66 0.94
8 0.75 1.07 1.44 0.78

used elements for normalization are Al (Chen et al. 2007) and Fe (Ghrefat and Yusuf 2006).
In this study, iron has also been used as a conservative tracer to differentiate the metal con-
tamination with respect to the average shale to quantify the extent and degree of metal pollu-
tion. To assess the level of metal enrichment in sediment samples of study area, EF was
computed using the following equation:

   
EF D Msample 6 Fesample 6 Maverage shale 6 Feaverage shale

where Msample is the concentration of the examined metal in the examined sediment, Fesample
is the concentration of the reference metal in the examined sediment, Maverage shale is the con-
centration of the examined metal in the average shale, and Feaverage shale is the concentration
of the reference metal in the average shale.
According to Chen et al., EF <1 indicates no enrichment, EF <3 is minor enrichment,
EF D 3–5 is moderate enrichment, EF D 5–10 is moderately severe enrichment, EF D 10–25
is severe enrichment, EF D 25–50 is very severe enrichment, and EF >50 is extremely severe
enrichment (Chen et al. 2007). The values of the average shale used for this work are from
(Turekian and Wedepohl 1961). The obtained EF values for various metals were between
minimal enrichment and extremely enrichment. The maximum EF value belongs to Cu
(Cu D 3.11) in St. 2 indicating moderate enrichment, and also, the minimum mean EF value
is seen for Pb (Pb D 0.5) in St. 6 showing no enrichment (Table 5).
Table 6. Ecological risk factor (Eir) and the potential ecological risk index (RI) of heavy metals in surface
sediments of North Persian Gulf.
Potential toxicity response
Station number Pb Ni Cu Cr indices for heavy metals (RI) Risk grade

1 1.8 2.75 1.12 0.76 6.43 Low

2 2.4 2.4 1.34 1.04 7.18 Low
3 2.2 2.25 1 0.80 6.25 Low
4 2.5 3.1 1.76 1 8.36 Low
5 1.85 2.5 1.58 0.86 6.79 Low
6 1.35 1.8 1.1 1 5.25 Low
7 1.75 2.8 1.54 0.94 7.03 Low
8 1.7 2.35 1.26 0.70 6.01 Low
Mean 1.94 2.49 1.33 0.88 6.64 Low
 HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 7

Table 7. Contamination categories based Igeo values.

Igeo values Igeo class Sediment quality

>5 6 Extremely contaminated

4–5 5 strongly to extremely contaminated
3–4 4 strongly contaminated
2–3 3 moderately to strongly contaminated
1–2 2 moderately contaminated
0–1 1 uncontaminated to moderately contaminated
0< 0 uncontaminated

Potential ecological risk

Potential ecological risk values are shown both individually and totally in Table 6. The order
for potential ecological risk factor of heavy metal in sediments of North Persian Gulf was
Ni > Pb > Cu > Cr (Table 7). Based on the calculations of the respective index for the
selected metals (Pb, Ni, Cu, and Cr), it was observed that all of the samples were within the
grade in “low ecological risk” as their individual (Eir) values were all below 40. Values of Eir
for Pb ranged from 1.35 (St. 6) to 2.5 (St. 4). For Ni, Eir values ranged from 1.8 (St. 6) to 3.1
(St. 4). For Cu, Eir values ranged from 1 (St. 3) to 1.76 (St. 4). For Cr, it ranged from 0.70 (St.
8) to 1.04 (St. 2). Based on the calculated RI values which is the summation of the calculated
Eir values, for different elements across the site, it was similarly observed that all the site sam-
ples were within the lowest grade in potential ecological risk values (RI <150). RI varied
from 5.25 to 8.36 for all metals and the general average was calculated as 6.64. St. 4 (8.36)
had higher values of RI while the lowest values were detected at St. 6 (5.25).

Geo-accumulation index
Geo-accumulation index (Igeo), introduced by Muller (1969) for determining the extent of
metal accumulation in sediments Igeo is mathematically expressed as follows:

log2 Cn
Igeo D
1:5 Bn

where Cn is the concentration of element ‘‘n’’ and Bn is the concentration of metal in shale
which is either directly measured in pre-civilization (pre-industrial) reference sediments of
the area or taken from the literature average shale value described by Turekian and
Table 8. Geoaccumulation index (Igeo) of metals in the Persian Gulf sediments (mg/kg).
Heavy metals

Station number Pb Ni Cu Cr

1 0 0 0 0
2 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0
4 0 0 0 0
5 0 0 0 0
6 0 0 0 0
7 0 0 0 0
8 0 0 0 0
8 H. JANADELEH ET AL.

Wedepohl (1961). The factor 1.5 is incorporated into the relationship to account for possible
variation in the background data due to lithogenic effect. The Igeo scales consist of six grades
ranging (Table 7) from uncontaminated to extremely contaminated.
The calculated Igeo values based on average shale are presented in Table 8. The results
showed the values of Igeo for Pb, Ni, Cu, and Cr in class ‘‘0’’, indicating uncontaminated.

Conclusion
The results showed that the accumulation of heavy metals varied among stations. The heavy
metal contents of the sediments follow the order of Fe > Cr > Ni > Cu > Pb. Industrial
effluents can be considered as a major reason for having a high concentration of Pb, Ni, and
Cu in St. 4 at north coast of Hormuz Strait (Persian Gulf). The concentrations of heavy met-
als in present study were lower than those found in average shale. The values of Igeo for Pb,
Ni, Cu, and Cr were characterized under uncontaminated. Based on the calculated RI values,
which is the summation of the calculated Eir values, for different elements across the site, it
was similarly observed that all the site samples were within the lowest grade in potential eco-
logical risk values (RI <150). The maximum mean EF value belongs to Cu in St. 2 indicating
moderate enrichment, and also, the minimum mean EF value is seen for Pb in St. 6 showing
no enrichment. Long-term monitoring of sediment would provide us better information to
be able to assess the variations in metal content of the sediments in this area.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the local people for their cooperation in this research.

ORCID
Habib Janadeleh http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6423-6472

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