Metal distribution in marine sediment along the Doha Bay, Qatar

Concentrations of 25 heavy metals (Ag, Al, As, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sr, V, Zn and Hg) in surface sediments along the Doha Bay from 10 transects each with five stations were studied. Significant differences were observed in metal concentrations between the sampling locations and durations. Higher concentrations were observed in areas where there are a lot of anthropological activities. The distribution of selected metals was presented in contour maps showing the variation between the two periods. In order to further study particle size effect on metal uptake, two different grinding times were administered on four randomly selected samples and the results showed no significant difference on the analysis in the inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) instrument. The overall results of metal analyses were within the international standards criteria, and the results were comparable to the previous studies conducted around Qatar.