Metal pollution determined by pollution indices for sea grass P. oceanica and surface sediments

Abstract

Concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Co, As, Co, and Hg in the sea grass Posidonia oceanica and surface sediment samples were determined. Together with P. oceanica, surface sediment samples were collected at eight locations in the major demographic, tourist and port areas along the Montenegrin coast to assess metal pollution. The metal pollution index (MPI) and metal enrichment factor (EF) were calculated and used to evaluate the impact of heavy metals in the surface sediment on P. oceanica. The sediment MPI and EF values were lower than these values in P. oceanica at the same locations. Since the surface sediment contained lower mean concentrations of Zn, Ni, Pb, Cd and Hg, than the sea grass P. oceanic, we concluded that the sea grass absorbed some metals from the seawater column.