Temporal metal concentration in coastal sediment at the north region of Persian Gulf

Highlights: • Two sediment cores dating back to 9660 and 15,600 years are indicative of sedimentation rates between 0.66 and 1.2 mm/Yr. • Oil transportation through striate of Hurmuz might have led to the higher concentration of some elements. • Higher concentrations of Ca could be indicative of higher biological production rate in the Persian Gulf. • Conventional pollution indices do not depict elemental pollution in the sediment of the Persian Gulf. - Abstract: The purpose of this article is to study, result of metal concentration in two-sediment cores from Persian Gulf. Age of sediment is determined by C¹⁴ isotope method and bulk concentration is determined by ICP. This research output shows that, age of BandareAbbas core back to 9660 and Bushehr core to 15,600 years ago. Also,concentration in BandareAbbas and Bushehr cores respectively change as, As (1.08–11.76 Vs 5.2–13.09), Ba (15.03–129.5 Vs 73.9–120.4), Cd (0.09–0.46 Vs 0.09–0.18), Li (5.66–58.5 Vs 15.3–33.4), Mo (0.3–0.75 Vs 0.3–0.8), Mg (7928.4–15,503.9 Vs 13,102.8–17,227.8), Mn (110.6–566.4 Vs 279.3–429.1), Na (8905.47–27,993.3 Vs 9357.7–27,541.4), Ni (13.3–110.3 Vs 37.1–88.4), Pb (0.5–42.5 Vs 2.5–13.6), Sr (407.5–1773.2 Vs 440.3–1596.9), Zn (13.05–71.2Vs22.4–50.5), Fe (0.46–4.07 Vs 1.7–3.18), Ca (9.25–23.3 Vs 13.8–19.2) and Al (0.62–8.15 Vs 2.48–4.65). Moreover different pollution index investigation represent that except Ca, the rest of the metal elements do not show pollution.