Abstract
In Mabahiss Bay, north Hurghada City, Red Sea, Egypt, the bathymetric measurements show the irregular topography of the bottom. The bottom sediments are mainly composed of sand fractions (average 73.5%). Gravel and sand contents decrease with depth. On the other hand, silt and clay percents show indirect relation with depth. Abnormally, there are some spots found near the coast where the percent of both silt and clay increases. They also show carbonate sediments (average 90.15%) increasing toward the bay center. The narrow belt adjacent to the shore area has lower carbonate content reflecting the effect of clastic sediments input into the area. The sediments in the study area have more than one source as indicated from the results of the mechanical analysis. Wide range of grain size distributions, clay spots and low carbonate content near the shore indicate change in the nature of sedimentary environment (i.e., pollution) which may be caused by land filling accompanied with urbanization and building of touristic resorts and centers. The organic matter content in the sediments is much higher than that of the other areas in the Red sea (average 4.8%) with considerable accumulation in the inner most parts of the bay. This may be due to relative abundance of organic productivity, direct discharge of domestic waste in some spots along the coast of the study area, and/or local contamination of hydrocarbons (i.e., tar balls thrown out on shore by weak waves through the few inlets of the study area). The average concentrations of lead, nickel, copper, and cadmium are 44, 34, 51, and 3.1 ppm, respectively. The suggested origin of these metals is either organic (localized oil pollution), or using of antifouling and anticorrosive paints from fishing and tourist boats. Other metals, particularly manganese (average 77 ppm), cobalt (average 51 ppm), and zinc (average 16 ppm) as well as sodium (average 0.32%) and potassium (av. 0.10%) show a common trend of increasing concentration toward the outermost parts of the bay. Some parts along shoreline have increasing concentrations, even if these parameters having a common trend of increase towards the center of the bay. This may be either due to sewage and wastewaters discharges from many outlets of tourist centers and fishermen and cargo boats, and/or terrestrial sediments input. Direct comparison of the present levels of heavy metals in Mabahiss Bay with other published data along the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez shows that the study area has higher concentrations. Dredging, land filling, localized oil pollution, using of antifouling and anticorrosive paints from fishing and tourist boats (where the bay is used as harbor for many of fishermen and cargo boats), sewage, variable amounts of municipal wastewater from many outlets of tourist centers considered to be the sources of pollution within Mabahiss bay. There are many effects of pollution on Mabahiss Bay environment among which: (1) death of fishes, seaweeds, birds, marine mammals, etc., (2) damage of beaches and other recreational areas, (3) damage of marine ecosystem by eliminating or decreasing population of certain species, (4) hazard to human from ingesting contaminated food, and more.