Environmental Pollution Assessment of Selected Dam Reservoir Sediments in Iraq

Section: Research Paper
Published
Jun 24, 2025
Pages
1-16

Abstract

Heavy metals are present in sediments and soils as a result of erosion, transportation and sedimentation processes, and the concentration of these elements increases as a result of human civil, agricultural and industrial activities. This study includes an assessment of the level of pollutant concentrations of heavy metals for twenty-three elements (Al, Fe, Mn, Cr, V, Ba, Sr, Ni, Zn, Co, Rb, Cu, Pb, U, Mo, As, Sn, Cd, Ag, Sb, TI, Bi, and Se) in the sediments of selected dam reservoirs. Heavy metals are extracted by standard methods and measurements using ICP-MC. Nine samples are collected (three samples from each reservoir) for the purpose of evaluating the environmental pollution has been occurredaccording to the pollution indicators represented by (EF, SPI, and Er). The highest values of the enrichment factor (EF) in the sediments of reservoir dam are for the elements (Mo, Cd, Bi, AI, and U) (As, Mo, Cd, Bi, AI, and U) (Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Bi, and U) respectively. While the results of the (Er) and the (SPI) indicate a high level of (Cd). It is attributed to the nature of the sediments that contain percentages of these elements, as well as the influence of the particle size, the proportion of organic materials, the climatic conditions, the location of the tourism activities that are used in the neighboring agricultural lands, or their source of radioactive contamination from the remnants of military weapons, industrial waste, oil visits, and crude oil. The results of the pollution indicators show that the source of the heavy elements for the sediment of the selected dam reservoirs was due to human influences.

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How to Cite

Samir AL-Bayati, manal, منال, Fadhil Al-Jomaily, M., محمود, Ahmed Abdullah, K., & خالد. (2025). Environmental Pollution Assessment of Selected Dam Reservoir Sediments in Iraq. Iraqi National Journal of Earth Science (INJES), 24(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.33899/earth.2023.138382.1044