Evaluation of the ecological risk of heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons in the basin sediments and the marine area of Bandar Abbas Shahid Bahonar port

Background and Theoretical Foundations: 

The environmental issues resulting from the commercial activities of the ports and their support in backshore are often reflected in the coastal-marine environment area. because any type of pollution with a known or unknown origin can eventually affect the marine environment as well.

In this study, considering the importance of Shahid Bahonar port and a extensive of loading, discharging and shipping activities of this port, Sampling of sediments was done in 11 stations in the basin and sea area of ​​this port in 1400 and 1401 and the concentration of heavy metals and aromatic petroleum hydrocarbon  was measured. .

Average concentration of heavy metals in sediments for arsenic (3.40), cadmium (1.20), chromium (177.29), iron (22261.40), copper (61.64), zinc (116.35), manganese (333/79), mercury (0.23), cobalt (26.29) and nickel (90.96) mg/kg were measured.  Also, about petroleum hydrocarbons, the results showed that among the 16 aromatic compounds studied, the highest concentration of Fluoranthene with 507.6 ng/g was measured at station 2 and the lowest concentration of Naphthalene was measured with 1.4 ng/g. According to the ecological risk assessment, the highest level of pollution is in the stations in the basin of the port and oil jetty with a medium degree of pollution, and the stations inside basin have a higher cumulative risk than outside the port.

 According to the obtained results, it can be said that port activities, marine repair activities of neighboring industries, the closure of the port basin and the low ratio of water exchange in the basin are factors that cause the accumulation of heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons in the sediments.