Detailed textural study of the Northern section of the Syrian Continental shelf
(N35.92991 E35.91785: N35.35752 E35.91542) has been carried out in order to determine
the sediment nature and distribution. The sediments are mainly coarse to very fine
-grained
particles, moderately sorted, negatively skewed to fine skewed and leptokurtic to
mesokurtic in nature. Interrelationship of various parameters shows bimodal nature of
sediments having dominance of mainly medium to coarse sand. The major part of the
sediment fall in coarse to very fine grained category (sand, silt and clay). Based on the CM
(Coarser one percentile and Median size values in micron) pattern, the sediment fall in
rolling and suspension field. These factors indicate that the sediments discharged from the
rivers mixes with offshore sediments and with the sediments eroded from a source rock.
Moreover, the wave energy conditions were high enough to disperse the sediments along
the shelf and passing it to the open ocean and later dispersing them by littoral currents.
This research focuses on determination the concentration of some heavy metal
elements (Nickel Ni and Cadmium Cd) in the coastal water sediments of Ras Al-Basit
(Latakia ) during the period that range between Autumn 2013 and Summer 2014 using the
A
tomic Absorption (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer: AAS) at two different (closed
and open) geographical regions.
The results of the research indicate a correlation monumental between the change in
the concentration of studied metallic elements (Ni & Cd), the quality and sediment
sampling sites on the one hand, and the sources of pollution on the other. It observed the
rule of fine sand with minor amount of clay in the sediments collected from closed area;
with high concentrations of both Nickel (755.50mg/Kg), and Cadmium (71.30μg/ Kg),
compared with the open area while the majority of the sediments are medium sand with
low Nickel and Cadmium concentrations (38.85mg/Kg; 13.31μg/ Kg).