GEOCHEMICAL STUDY OF MARINE SEDIMENT CORES FROM MAJOR PORTS IN EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA

This study focuses on the investigation of organic and inorganic geochemical parameters that affect the urban coastal environment of an Eastern Mediterranean country, namely Greece. This project has being financed by the programme: ENVIRONMENT-ARCHIMEDES: Funding of Research Groups at T.E.I. of Piraeus, Greece. The European Union and the government of Greece support the present research, in an effort to determine the impact of current maritime activities, combined with urban development, on the marine environment. Knowledge of the regional coastal geochemistry is important in understanding the pathways and mechanisms by which metals and organometallic compounds distribute themselves throughout the coastal marine environment. Emphasis is given on the distribution of pollutants in harbour sediments in densely populated coastal areas of Greece, such as Piraeus Port and Patras Port. Piraeus Port is the largest container port in Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and Patras Port is the busiest harbour in Western Greece and a major transportation link between Greece and Italy. This research examines the concentration levels of a suite of metals and organometallic compounds (i.e., tributylarsenic, tetraethyllead) in marine sediments of 1.5m long cores from several locations in Piraeus Port and Patras Port. The detection of the metal concentrations involved a 2% HNO₃. partial leaching method and application of high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques. For the measurement of the organometallic compounds, extraction of the organic compounds from the harbour sediment samples and detection by capillary gas chromatograph coupled with a microwave-induced helium plasma atomic emission detector (GC/AED) were employed.

The results of the present research program offer new scientific data that may contribute significantly in improving the efficiency of the environmental monitoring and protection of the Eastern Mediterranean coastal zones.