Determination of the trace of some heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Hg) in marine shore sediments of Alkabeer Aljnouby River estuary

This study aims to determine of concentration of three trace heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Hg) in the marine shore sediments collected from nine sites of Alkabeer Aljnouby river estuary during the period (5/7/2004-29/6/2005), using cold vapor technique for the determination of Hg and (ETA-AAS) for Cd and Pb. Results revealed that the medians accumulation in the marine shore sediments at all studied sites ranged between (3.46-16.60 μg/g dry wt.), (nd-0.085 μg/g dry wt.) and (nd-0.096 μg/g dry wt.) for Pb, Cd, Hg respectively. The results showed that the concentrations of Pb at all studied sites were higher than the concentrations of Cd and Hg. The concentrations of Cd values in the sediment samples were related nearby at all studied sites during the study period, while the concentrations of Hg were decreased in summer 2004 and increased in other seasons.The study of relationships between the values of concentration of the studied element concentrations in the sediment samples indicates no obvious correlation between the studied sites.(author)