Determination of Arsenic and Cadmium in the Seawater Samples using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Abstract

: This study aimed to estimate the contamination of seawater with the elements of cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) in the Alkhumes City, namely: Alkhums seaport, the archaeological Lebda beach (Barco) and the Alkhums fishing port. The atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to determine the concentration of dissolved heavy metals in seawater samples. The results showed that the seawater samples were free of cadmium or lower than the detection limit. The results also showed that the concentration of arsenic in the seawater samples were 0.22±0.101μg/L, 0.16±0.103μg/L and 0.14±0.104 μg/L, Alkhums seaport, Alkhums fishing port and the archaeological Lebda beach (Barco), respectively. The highest concentration of arsenic was found in the Alkhums seaport, while the lowest concentration was found at the archaeological Lebda beach (Barco). It was also found through the obtained results that the concentration of arsenic was higher than the permissible limits according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA). It should be noted that the presented results provide environmental data in an area where the availability of field data is very scarce and for a better understanding of the anthropogenic impacts on a Mediterranean scale