Potentially toxic elements in saltmarsh sediments and common reed (Phragmites australis) of Burullus coastal lagoon at North Nile Delta, Egypt: A survey and risk assessment

Sabry M Shaheen; Mohamed A S Abdelrazek; Mahmoud Elthoth; Farahat S Moghanm; Radi Mohamed; Ahmad Hamza; Nagwan El-Habashi; Jianxu Wang; Jörg Rinklebe

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.359

Potentially toxic elements in saltmarsh sediments and common reed (Phragmites australis) of Burullus coastal lagoon at North Nile Delta, Egypt: A survey and risk assessment

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Feb 1:649:1237-1249. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.359. Epub 2018 Aug 27.

Authors

Sabry M Shaheen¹, Mohamed A S Abdelrazek², Mahmoud Elthoth³, Farahat S Moghanm⁴, Radi Mohamed⁵, Ahmad Hamza⁶, Nagwan El-Habashi⁷, Jianxu Wang⁸, Jörg Rinklebe⁹

Affiliations

¹ University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil and Water Sciences, 33 516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt; University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany. Electronic address: smshaheen@agr.kfs.edu.eg.
² University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Chemistry and Toxicity of Pesticides, 33 516 Kafrelsheikh, Egypt.
³ University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, 33 516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt; Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, United Kingdom.
⁴ University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil and Water Sciences, 33 516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt.
⁵ University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, Aquaculture Department (Fish Welfare), 33 516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt.
⁶ Aquavet for Fish Health and Nutrition, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt.
⁷ University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Pathology, 33 516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt.
⁸ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, PR China. Electronic address: wangjianxu@vip.gyig.ac.cn.
⁹ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; Department of Environment, Energy and Geoinformatics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: rinklebe@uni-wuppertal.de.

PMID: 30308894
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.359

Abstract

Burullus lagoon is the second largest lake in Egypt. However, there has never been a comprehensive survey which studied nineteen potentially toxic elements in sediments and plants and evaluated the associated potential risk. Thus, we aimed to study the total and potentially available content of As, Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sb, Se, Sn, Tl, V, and Zn in the sediments and common reed (Phragmites australis) at thirty two sites along the entire lagoon and connected drains. Contamination Factor (CF), Pollution Load Index (PLI), Geo-accumulation Index (I_geo), and Enrichment Factor (EF) were calculated to assess the grade of contamination. Element accumulation factor (AF) and bio-concentration ratio (BCR) were also calculated. Aluminum showed the highest median (mg kg^-1) total content (41,200), followed by Fe (30,300), Mn (704.7), V (82.0), Zn (75.5), Cr (51.2), Cu (47.8), Ni (44.3), As (31.9), Tl (24.6), Co (21.4), Se (20.3), Sb (17.6), Sn (15.6), Mo (11.3), and Hg (16.6 μg kg^-1). Values of the EF, CF, and I_geo showed that the sediments were heavily contaminated with As, Sb, Se, Tl, Mo, Sn, Co, Ni, and Cu. The drained sediment had significantly higher values of total and potentially available element content than the lagoon sediments. Sediments of the middle and western area showed significantly higher contents of total and available elements than the eastern section. The BCR and AF values indicate that the studied plant is efficient in taking up high amounts of Zn, Fe, As, Sn, Tl, Ni, Mo, Mn; then Co, Cu, and V. The results exhibit a dramatic contamination at certain sites of the lagoon, and the studied PTEs have a predominant role in contamination-related ecological risk. Further investigations concerning redox-induced mobilization of PTEs in sediments, the risk of fish contamination and the potential health hazards are highly recommended.

Keywords: Accumulation factors; Contamination indices; Toxic metal(loid)s; Wetlands.