Identification of Heavy Metals Contamination at Bushehr Mangroves

Pollution of natural environments by heavy metals has become a global problem. Elevated concentrations of heavy metals have been recorded in mangrove sediments all over the world, which often reflect the long-term pollution caused by human activities. Industrialization and urbanization in recent decade have led to a strong risk of environmental concern, in particular, the heavy metal contamination in the mangrove ecosystems in the (sub) tropics coastlines. Mangroves are productive habitats and may support coastal fisheries for prawns and fishes. Mangroves are also important to humans for a variety of reasons, including aquaculture, agriculture, forestry, protection against shoreline erosion, as a source of fire-wood and building material, and other local subsistence use. Principal components analysis (PCA) is an exploratory, multivariate, statistical technique that can be used to examine data variability. It is frequently applied to environmental data, where datasets may be large and difficult to interpret, and where complex inter-relationships between variables are difficult to identify and visualize. Therefore aims of this study are to investigate current heavy metal distributions and concentrations in Bushehr mangrove intertidal sediments, to assess the contamination extent by heavy metals using marine sediment quality criteria, related to the anthropogenic impact during decades of urbanization and economic development along the coastal area, and update the information for elective environmental management in the region.