View article

As the largest lake, the CASPIAN SEA is one of the most important lakes in the world from ecological, political and natural resources points of view. The CASPIAN SEA is increasingly being under environmental threats and pressures because of residential, industrial and agricultural areas, oil exploitation and production activities within and in the vicinity of long coastlines of this lake. Studying the bottom SEDIMENT s as the final sink of the fated pollutants has been of interest to evaluate the overall quality of the aquatic environments. Much attention has been paid to the study of the water and SEDIMENT quality and ecology of the CASPIAN SEA. In the present study, HEAVY METAL s and petroleum HYDROCARBON contents in surface SEDIMENT samples of a large area from east to central coasts of southern CASPIAN SEA (from Miankaleh bay in Golestan province to Ramsar coasts in Mazandaran province, Iran) are studied.