Concentration of Heavy Metals in Sediment and Seagrasses Tissue of the Red Sea Coastal Water of the Sudan

Abstract

The study investigated the concentration of Lead, Cadmium, Nickels and Chromium in sediment and seagrass tissues at six selected sites along the Su-danese Red Sea coast. The findings of the study added some important and necessary information about the status and condition of the coastal environment in the Sudanese Red Sea coast in terms of the extent of pollution with heavy metals. The study sites included: Marsa Bashayer, Marsa Dama Dama, Green Area, Shipyard, Marsa Halout and Dungonab Bay. The Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer was used to measure Lead, Cadmium and Nick-els. The colorimetric detection method was used for Chromium using the Spectrophotometer. Marsa Dama Dama site revealed high levels concentration of heavy metals in sediment for Lead (60.5) µg/g, Cadmium (0.22) µg/g and Chromium (146.65) µg/g. Marsa Halout showed the highest mean concentration of Nickel in sediment at 14 µg/g. The variation of concentration of metals in sediment between the sites was not significant. The mean concentration of metals in seagrass species tissues ranged from 3.9 to 26.25 µg/g for Lead, 0.1 to 0.90 µg/g for Cadmium, 0.38 to 5.96 µg/g for Nickel and 0.15 to 0.495 µg/g for Chromium. The differences of concentration of heavy metals in seagrass tissues among the sites were significant for Lead and not significant