Evaluation of heavy metal pollution in coastal sediments of Bandar Abbas, the Persian Gulf, Iran: Mercury pollution and environmental geochemical indices

Highlights: • Mercury was measured in coastal sediments of the Persian Gulf. • The concentrations of mercury exhibited higher values than the permissible levels, risking aquatic organisms' lives. • This study presents valuable information on the mobility of the mercury in the sediments. • This study can help sediment monitoring and evaluation processes in the study area. Mercury has been measured by using Cold Vapor-Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry in coastal sediments of the Persian Gulf (Bandar Abbas region). The mean concentration of the six stations followed a decreasing order of S6 (3.95) > S1 (3.75) > S4 (3.55) > S5 (3.33) > S2 (2.72) > S3 (2.17), and the mean concentration ± standard error was calculated to be 3.24 ± 0.28 (μgg⁻¹ dry weight) for the heavy element Mercury in the sediments. The statistical investigation indicated that the concentration means of the Mercury existing in transects sediments are meaningfully different from each other (p < 0.05). To properly assess the availability and mobility of elements, Enrichment Factor (EF), Geoaccumulation index (Igeo), Contamination factor (C_f) and Toxicity Risk Index (TRI) were provided. The results show that the pollution caused by Mercury in sediments is highly polluted and the source of the presence of Mercury in the region is human-made.