Geochemistry of the northern Cyprus (NE Mediterranean) shelf sediments: Implications for anthropogenic and lithogenic impact

The concentrations of heavy metals and organic carbon in sediment were determined to evaluate spatial distributions from the three different regions of Cilician basin (Eastern Mediterranean) in 2011. The ranges of Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Mn, Cr, As, Fe and organic carbon contents of sediments from the study area were 1.6–74, 1.6–9.2, 5.0–78, 6.6–114, 1.6–17, 141–1241, 9.0–46, 3.3–55.4, 1800–84400 mg kg−1 and 0.99–1.66%, respectively. The concentrations of Pb, Zn, Co, Cr, Al were lower than those average crustal values, which indicated that there were no major sources of pollution for these elements. The results showed that the sediments of northern, eastern and western shelf were polluted with As, Ni and Mn, As and Cu, Fe, respectively. The contamination factor of Cu in the western and As were found to be of moderate contamination in the eastern and northern parts of the study area. Metal levels were evaluated in sediments in accordance with the numerical SQG of the USEPA.