Geochemical and environmental monitoring of the major and minor elements in coastal sediments of Hormoz Island coasts and drawing its distribution maps

Abstract

Assessing pollution of coastal sediments is environmentally and ecologically important. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine environmental pollution and to prepare the geochemical distribution map of elements in the coastal sediments of Hormoz Island at the north of Hormoz Strait. For this purpose, 27 sediment samples were taken to a depth of 10 cm from the surface sediments. These samples were analyzed for the elemental composition using X-ray fluorescence method (XRF). The elemental spatial distribution was mapped using linear Kriging method in GIS environment. The sediments mineralogical analysis using XRF showed that the sediment is mainly consisted of a collection of minerals such as hematite, calcite, quartz, feldspar, plagioclase, dolomite, aragonite, clay minerals and heavy minerals. Calculating the Muller environmental indices (Igeo) and enrichment factor (EF) showed that the sediments of the coastal strip of the Hormuz Island are contaminated with Cr, As, and Pb. Based on the sedimentology and sedimentary geochemistry on one hand and refereeing to interpreting the distribution maps on the other hand, it became clear that alteration and erosion of rock units exposed in the center of the Hormuz Island series under hot and humid weather conditions are the source of these elements. Source of chromium is caused by anthropogenic activities.

Keywords

• pollution
• coastal sediments
• hormoz island
• gis