Hydrocarbons in surface sediments and bivalves from Shatt Al-Arab and its rivers, Southern Iraq

Abstract

Levels of aliphatic hydrocarbons within the boiling range of alkanes n-C₁₄ to n-C₃₄ were determined in samples of surface sediments and in two bivalve species, Unio tigridis and Pseudodontopsis euphraticus (Unionidae), from seven locations in the lower reaches of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and the upper Shatt Al-Arab. These levels, and data derived from them, indicate only slight pollution, mostly by degraded hydrocarbons arising from anthropogenic sources. The Shatt Al-Arab samples were most contaminated and those from the river Tigris the least contaminated.