Investigation of total petroleum hydrocarbons in the peripheral sediments of the coral ecosystems of the Persian Gulf islands (Case study: Qeshm, Hengam and Lavan)

Subject Areas :

Mehdi Soltani ¹ , Saber Ghasemi ² , Ehsan Kamrani ³

1 - Ph.D Student of Environmental Management, Department of Environmental Sciences, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
3 - Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.

Received: 2022-10-09 Accepted : 2022-12-26 Published : 2023-02-20

Keywords: Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs), Persian Gulf, Environmental pollution, Sensitive ecosystem,

Abstract :

The second richest habitat on the planet after tropical forests is dedicated to coral ecosystems. This ecosystem plays a significant role in balancing the amount of carbon and nitrogen, maintaining coastlines against destruction caused by continuous waves, storms, floods, creating a marine environment, nutrients for the food chain, and also balancing the delicate system of nature. Today, the extraction, exploitation and transportation of oil have left the biggest role in the destruction of the coral coasts of the Persian Gulf. Samples of marine and coastal sediments of Qeshm, Hengam and Lavan coral islands from a depth of about 0-5 cm were randomly collected according to the MOOPAM method and the concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons was measured by UVF device in μg/g of sediment. The texture type of sediments indicated that the highest percentage of fine particles (Silt+Clay) in marine and coastal sediments of Lavan Island is 51.58% and 51.01%, respectively. The average detected concentrations of TPH are lower than the environmental risk background value (4 μg/g). The highest concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons is observed in the marine and coastal sediment stations of Lavan Island, which can be due to the facilities and activities of oil and fishing vessels in this island. Also, the assessment of the environmental risk caused by TPH pollution on aquatic organisms using indicators of sediment quality guidelines (SOGs) and contamination factor (Cf) showed that the investigated sediments do not have any adverse biological effects on aquatic organisms. Exploitation, marine transportation, oil spills and its derivatives are considered as one of the main reasons for the destruction and negative ecological effects on the coral reefs of the Persian Gulf, which this challenge of the need to protect the coastal areas and the environment makes marine life more obvious with a sustainable development approach.