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Article Type

Research Article

Subject Area

Environmental Pollution

Corresponding Author

Gehan M. El Zokm

Abstract

More emphasis is being paid to monitoring hydrocarbon levels and assessing their risk in various marine environmental matrices since they may pose a threat to biodiversity. This research highlighted hydrocarbons in the Marsa Matrouh coastal area of Egypt as the first comprehensive effort to provide a technical basis to assess and address pollution. Surficial sediments and seawater samples (in duplicate) were collected from 10 sites, Triplicate samples of nine fish species were collected from five stations (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) for THC determination. In addition, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) residues (16E PA-PAHs) were evaluated in the sediment. THC recorded concentrations of 14.77- 22.50 ng/l and 8.99-26.70 ng/l in water samples during summer and winter, respectively. The concentrations of 16∑ EPAPAHs in sediment ranged from 840 to 6860 ng/g, with an average of 2728 ng/g (dry weight). These values were < ERL (effective range low) and ERM (effective range medium) limits, while fish samples showed 17–35 ng/g of ∑PAHs. The sediment-water partition coefficient (LogKsw) ranged from 4.0–6.4, revealing the hydrophobicity of THC. Depending on the Ecological Hazard Quotient (EHA), none of the fish species evaluated in the study area posed any threat to human health. ƩCOMB (total combustion PAHs) recorded 3.17–0.31 ng/g, higher than total fossil hydrocarbons, and was declared a pyrolytic source of PAHs. The sum of seven carcinogenic PAHs (ΣCARC) ranged between 0.35–3.49 ng/g with an average of 1.31 ng/g. The total index values (< 4) indicate petrogenic origin for the recorded hydrocarbons.

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