Nonpolar lipid tracers in sediments from the Shatt al-Arab River of Iraq and the northwestern Arabian Gulf
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Nonpolar lipid tracers in sediments from the Shatt al-Arab River of Iraq and the northwestern Arabian Gulf Ahmed I. Rushdi & Ali A. Z. DouAbul & Bernd R. T. Simoneit & Aarif H. El-Mubarak & Khalid F. Al-Mutlaq & Mohammed A. B. Qurban & Miguel A. Goni
Received: 3 November 2012 / Accepted: 18 November 2013 / Published online: 6 December 2013 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2013
Abstract Surface sediment samples from the Shatt al-Arab River of Iraq and northwestern coast of the Arabian Gulf were collected and analyzed to determine the characteristics, concentrations, distribution, and sources of nonpolar lipid compounds. The sediments were collected using a Van Veen grab sampler, dried, extracted with a mixture of dichloromethane/ methanol, and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The lipid compounds included n-alkanes (24.55± 44.35 μg g−1), methyl n -alkanoates (11.45±9.45 μg g−1), hopanes (13.31 ± 13.46 μg g − 1 ), steranes (15.63 ± 28.40 μg g−1), phthalates (36.99±53.62 μg g−1), and unresolved complex mixture (315.84±435.87 μg g−1). The major sources of these lipids were from anthropogenic petroleum inputs and plasticizers with lesser amounts from natural waxes A. I. Rushdi (*) : B. R. T. Simoneit : A. H. El-Mubarak : K. F. Al-Mutlaq College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P. O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia e-mail: [email protected] A. I. Rushdi : M. A. Goni College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA A. I. Rushdi Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Sana’a University, Sana’a, Yemen A. A. Z. DouAbul Delta Research Group, Marine Sciences Center, Basra University, Basra, Iraq B. R. T. Simoneit Department of Chemistry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA M. A. B. Qurban Center for Environment and Water, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
of higher plants and microbial residues. Anthropogenic inputs from petroleum products ranged from 53 to 92 % of the total lipid compounds, whereas biogenic inputs were from 1.8 to 6.9 % for terrestrial plant wax and from 2.0 to 10.0 % for microbial detritus. Keywords Shatt al-Arab . Iraq . Arabian Gulf . Lipid compounds . UCM . GC-MS
Introduction One of the major inputs of organic matter (OM) to the Arabian Gulf are petroleum hydrocarbons from onshore and offshore oilfields, discharges from refineries, petrochemical plants and shipping, regional recurrent wars, and possibly natural oil seeps (PME/UNEP 1989; Sadiq and McCain 1993; Vogt 1995; Massoud et al. 1998; PME 2003). The majority of new oil exploration and production is offshore, and one of the fastest developing areas with enormous potential for the Arabian Gulf is in the northwestern gulf region (PME/UNEP 1989; ROPME 1999, 2004; PME 2003). Inputs of oil-related pollution to the northern Gulf are substantial (Golob and Bruss 1984). Direct Gulf War-related oil inputs are estimated to range from 6 to 12 million barrels (0.95–
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