Study of Oil Pollution Levels in Sediment of the Umm- Qasr and khor Al- Zubair ports.

Abstract

Abstract The study area in this paper which represented by Umm-Qasr and Khor Al- Zubair ports are located in Southern Iraq could be effected by Various kinds of pollutants resulting from different sources. These may have severe impact on the water quality of these ports and eventually upon living aquatic organisms. Therefore, it is important to determine the total concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons TPHs. Oil concentration in the sediment collected, from July 2010 to April 2011at eight stations (3 sites within Umm Qasr Port and 5 sites within Khor Al- Zubair ports). Spectroflourometeric method has been adopted to measure the TPHs. The measured concentrations of oil in this study ranged between10.12 - 20.5µg/gm. It was suggested that 10µg/l indicate concentration f marine life with oil.