Environmental characteristics of the egyptian mediterranean coast

Abstract

In an attempt to evaluate the environmental quality of the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea from El-Dabaa to El-Saloum, environmental parameters as well as amino acids, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides and PCBs have been studied in water and sediment samples from seven different locations during the year 2014. Spatial and temporal fluctuations as well as statistical analysis between the analyzed variables were examined. The results demonstrated a wide range of water temperature (13.50- 29.00°C), slightly narrow fluctuations in salinity (37.20-38.78), and welloxygenated seawaters (6.40–8.96 mg O2/l), relatively low amounts of oxidizable organic matter (0.10-1.60 mg O2/l) and the seawater was slightly alkaline (pH range 8.04–8.63). Nutrient characteristics sustained the levels up to 2.45, 5.42, 5.40, 0.28 and 5.36 μM for reactive phosphates, reactive silicates, ammonium, nitrite and nitrate, respectively. These obtained results signified that water quality from El-Dabaa to El-Saloum is good; within the permissible limits in the majority of monitoring sites, and all stations were generally between Oligotrophic and mesotrophic states, characterized by a relatively low to medium level of nutrients. Furthermore, seawater from the most sites did not show any levels of pesticides, PCBs and petroleum hydrocarbons. These levels, if any, may have been much lower than the detection limit for the compounds analyzed. In marine sediments, the concentrations of amino acids demonstrated a range of 1884.5-19569.6 μM, while pesticides, PCBs, and petroleum hydrocarbons were below detection limit to 3086, 120, 145 ng/g; respectively. These results are much lower in sediment of the western part of the Egyptian Mediterranean coast compared to other sites and also much lower than permissible levels given by National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering.