Heavy mineral distribution as related to environmental conditions for modern beach sediments from the Susanoglu (Atakent,Mersin, Turkey)     

Mustafa Gurhan Yalcin 《Environmental Geology》2009,58(1):119-129

Geochemical works were conducted on anthropogenically effective lithologic unit exposing along the Susanoglu coast in Mersin, Turkey. For this purpose, beach sand sediments from 33 stations were collected and heavy metal and oxide concentrations were analyzed. To determine the source of heavy metals (natural and anthropogenic), simple and multivariate statistical analyses were applied. According to factor analysis, three factors were determined. The first factor consists of SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Na₂O, K₂O, TiO₂, Cr, Ni, Cu and Mo and total variance is explained with 27.502% and expressed as “natural process factor”. These elements (Cr, Ni, Cu, Mo) are closely associated with geogenic materials and came from same sources of ultrabasic rocks (ophiolite). The second factor consists of CaO, MgO, TiO₂, MnO, Ni, Pb, Zn and W and total variance is explained with 21.505% and expressed as “anthropogenic factor”. These elements (Pb, Zn, Cd, V, W) are anthropogenic and are mainly due to the effluent or industrial input/activities and came from different sources of pollution in the study area. The third factor consists of Pb, Cd and Sb and total variance is explained with 9.748% and expressed as “intermediate factor”. The factor analysis and the cluster analysis are in support of each other. Cr, Ni, Co, Cd, Hg and Mo concentrations are greater than Turkish acceptable values and they show toxic effect. Al, Cu, Pb, Cd and Mo concentrations in beach sand deposits in the Susanoglu coast are found as 1.44, 1.26, 1.21, 1.02 and 1.04 mg/kg and higher than those in Kızkalesi beach sands. However, all other heavy metal contents are determined in low concentrations.  相似文献