Mesopotamian Journal of Marine Science

The Confirmation of the presence of Arabian toadfish Colletteichthys occidentalis Greenfield, 2012 , is reported from northern Arabian Gulf of Iraq. The sample was collected using a trawl net in May 2024. C. occidentalis is characterized by a single tentacle located above the posterior portion of the eye, dorsal fin rays 19, anal fin rays 15.

In Basrah Governorate, south of Iraq, there are many ancient river course sites. This issue is related to the nature of the region that represents the lower part of the Mesopotamian basin. One of these courses is the ancient Abu Al-Khaseeb River course; many queries have been raised about its existence, location, origin, and extinction, which is the subject of the current study. The current study uses Ground Penetration Radar and Sub Bottom profiler surveys to determine the trace of a river course named (the old Abu Al-Khaseeb River) extending from the main road that links the center of Basrah city with Al-Faw city and extends for 31.65 km towards the west at one of the dendrite branches of Khor Al-Zubair channel. The average width of this stream is about 40 m, and its depth does not exceed 2 m. The straightness of this course and its extension from east to west, unlike the river courses in the region (from north to south), the extent of ancient irrigation systems on both sides of this captured course, and the flatness of the land along it, all these features are evidence that this river course was the artificial origin for irrigation or drainage purposes for the area which was agriculturally active in the Abbasid period, according to historical sources.

In the study, the effect of silver and chitosan nanoparticles on growth parameters of Metapenaeus affinis were investigated. The highest weight was 1.88 + 0.65 g in Ag NPs and 2.92 + 0.90 g in Cs NPs, while in the control was 1.81 + 0.74 g. The highest length in the Ag NPs was 6.22 + 1.51 cm, chitosan reached 8.32 + 1.61 cm, while it was 6.11 + 1.35 cm for the control treatment. The weight gain rate in the silver NPs treatment was 0.58 + 0.41 g, while in the Cs NPs reached 1.13 + 0.86 g, and in the control reached to 1.81 + 0.74 g. The highest relative growth rate (%) was achieved in the Cs NPs treatment 49.2 % compared to 44.6 % in Ag NPs and 2.39 % in the control. While the highest specific growth rate (%) was achieved in the Cs NPs, it was 1.24 and the lowest rate was 1.08 in the control treatment. The highest rate of daily growth rates (g/day) was recorded in the Cs NPs treatment, reaching 0.045 g/day. The highest survival and molting rate were achieved in the Cs NPs treatment, 76% and 28 % respectively, in the Ag NPs were 52 % and 26% respectively and in the control were 64 % and 18 % respectively. The green tea Camellia sinensis extract showed good results in manufacturing silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and chitosan nanoparticles. The results of the UV-visible spectrum examination showed that the absorbance of Ag NPs was 456 nm and Cs NPs were 271 nm. The atomic force microscope (AFM) examination revealed that the size of Ag NPs was 88.4 nm and Cs NPs was 43.33 nm.

This study aimed to compare the amount of air pollution by aerosols particulate in Basrah government during 5 years. It is known that aerosols particulate is one of the major causative of air pollution. We collected the falling dust data was collected by the Basrah Environment Directorate. The collection is done through special dust collection containers. The containers are distributed on three different sites in Basrah government including Abi Al-Khaseeb, Al-Ashar, and Basrah Environment (city center). The collection process starts from January until December for successive five years starting from 2019 till 2023, and the average concentration of falling dust in the containers is measured by (g/m2/month).

This research investigates the levels of trace metals in residual soil samples collected from eleven locations within the oil fields of Basrah Governorate, Iraq (Seba, Safwan, Majnoon, Ratawi, Bergezia, West Qurna 2, West Qurna 1, Shuaaba, South Rumaila, North Rumaila, and Al Zubair). The primary objective is to assess soil contamination caused by oil extraction activities, using advanced analytical techniques to evaluate heavy metal concentrations and their environmental impact. The measures of trace metals were done by Inconductivity Coupled Plasma (ICP). Metals analyzed include Zn, Cd, Mn, Pb, Fe, Cu and Cr. The study used indicators like Contamination Factor (CF), Enrichment Factor (EF), Geo-Accumulation Index (Igeo), and Pollution Load Index (PLI) to assess the contamination levels. The concentrations of Zn were at their lowest 10.765 ug/g dry weight in South Rumaila field and the highest 60.694 ug/g dry weight in Safwan field. The concentrations of Cd were at their lowest 0.304 ug/g dry weight in Shuaaba field and the highest 1.646 ug/g dry weight in West Qurna 1 field. The concentrations of Mn were at their lowest 71.847ug/g dry weight in Majnoon field and highest 396.628ug/g dry weight in West Qurna 1 field. The concentrations of Pb was lowest 0.480 ug/g dry weight in South Rumaila field and highest 39.288 ug/g dry weight in West Qurna 2 field. The concentrations of Fe was lowest 3372.278ug/g dry weight in South Rumaila field and highest 9279.445 ug/g dry weight in West Qurna 1 field. The concentrations of Cu was lowest 5.272 ug/g dry weight in South Rumaila field and highest 304.929 ug/g dry weight in West Qurna 1 field. The concentrations of Cr was lowest 18.368 ug/g dry weight in Al-Zubair field and highest 76.347ug/g dry weight in West Qurna 1 field. The results showed that Cadmium (Cd) and Copper (Cu) Showed the highest contamination levels, particularly in "West Qurna 1" and "Safwan," indicating significant industrial influence. Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) Moderate contamination was observed in fields like "Safwan" and "West Qurna 2," while other sites showed lower levels. Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), and Chromium (Cr) Found within natural thresholds, with minimal contamination across most locations. Pollution Load Index (PLI) Most fields had PLI < 1, indicating low overall pollution, except "West Qurna 1," where PLI > 1 indicates significant contamination.

In Iraq, water resources suffered from salinity, declining in flow rate and pollution. Recently, these problems have reached critical point where people in Basrah governorate depended on desalinized water. Therefore, the objective of this research is evaluating seasonal water quality of some raw water supplies in Basrah governorate using Principal Component and Factor Analyses (PCA/FA). Raw water samples had been collected from nine water supplies (Braadhyia; Garma; Shatt Al-Arab; Mhejran; Hamdan balad; Hamdan bridge; Jubaila; Maqal and Zubair) for analyzing fourteen parameters along the period from January 2017 to December 2020. We used varimax as a rotation method for interpreting the results of PCA/FA. Depending or scree plots, we extract three factors for winter, summer and autumn and two factors for spring only. Rotated factors are named as follows: The first factor represents pollution with sea water due to reduction in river discharge which allowed a salt-water wedge to penetrate into the Shatt Al-Arab River. The second factor represents pollution with biotic and a biotic particulate. Water temperature contributes in variance of the third factor for Summer and Autumn seasons which reflects disturbance of climate conditions. pH contributes in variance of the third factor for Summer season only which considers as an important factor for efficiency of both coagulation and chlorination. The alkalinity contributes in variance of the third factor for Winter and Autumn seasons.

In this study, sediment samples from five stations were collected, aliphatic compounds were extracted, and the samples were analyzed by using a gas chromatograph in order to determine the pollution levels caused by normal alkanes concentrations in the Khor Al-Zubair in Basrah. The highest concentration was 10.10965 ng/g in the fifth station, while the lowest concentration was 0.91264 ng/g in the third station. The results showed that anthropogenic was the dominant origin,where Carbon Preference Index (CPI) ranged from 0.7181 in the third station to 1.0592 in the fifth station, and Pristine/Phytane ranged from 0.316547 in first station to about 0.730581 in second station. The C17/Pristine ratio shows that the most common origin is the anthropogenic where it ranged between 0.773271 in the third station and 1.905842 in the fourth station, and C18/Phytane ranged from 0.974346 in the fourth station to about 2.770045 in the first station. The concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC) were determined in sediment samples. The highest concentration was 0.193 in the second station and the lowest concentration was 0.076 in the first station. According to our knowledge this study is the first to determine the n-alkane in Khor Al-Zubair region.

Pesticides are chemical compounds used worldwide for different purposes. These chemicals are well known for their long life, high toxicity, and slow degradation process. Many countries including Iraq banned the use of pesticides for their adverse effects. However, several pesticides are found incessantly in rivers. To highlight the recent situation of pesticide contamination in Tigris river at Misan governorate, southern Iraq. The study aims to determine the concentrations of selected organochlorine pesticide residues which are (Alpha lindane, Lindane, Delta-lindane, Heptachlor, Aldrin, Epoxy heptachlor, DDE, Dieldrin, DDD, Endrin aldehyde, Endrin ketone, Methoxychlor, Endrin, and Endosulfan) in the surface sediments of the ,Amara, Kumait ,Ali Al-Gharbi and Ali Al-Sharqi, four stations in Tigris Rivers at Misan Governorate, Iraq by using Gas Chromatography mass spectra .In general, higher total concentrations of organochlorine pesticide were found in the Amara station ( 17.05 µg/kg) and the lower organochlorine pesticides were found in the Ali Al Gharbi station (2.87 µg/kg).it is evident that the banned pesticides are used regularly by peoples and thus contaminating the environment. Therefore, the formulations of appropriate rules and their enforcement to control the manufacture and solicitation of such pesticides are an urgent need to save the environment. If we compare our data with other study its fuels with these study in the area.

In this study, twenty-two cases of cetacean strandings were recorded along the Syrian coast from 2000 to 2020. The recorded species are: one individual of Megaptera movaeangliae, 4 individuals of Ziphius cavirostris, one individual of Physeter macrocephalus, nine individuals of Tursiops truncatus, two individuals of Balaenoptera physalus, one individual of Grampus griseus, three individuals of Delphinus delphis, And one individual of Balaenoptera acutorostrata. The location and cause of each stranding were registered and are presented and discussed in this paper.

Heavy metals presence in industrial effluents may be a significant source of pollution that leads to considerable environmental issues. In the present work, the potential adsorptive behavior of algal cells Enteromorpha intestinalis for copper ions removal from aqueous medium has been studied in the states of alginate-immobilized algal cells and free algal cells. The impact of initial copper concentrations (5, 10 and 15) mg/l, contact time ranging from 0– 8 days has been studied at temperatures 25 °C, pH 7± 2 and agitation speed of 120 rpm. The algae achieved the highest efficiency at an initial concentration of 5 mg/l, reaching 74.49% on the fourth day of the experiment when treated with alginate-immobilized algae. In contrast, the free algae recorded a removal rate of 66.51% on the second day of the experiment. The alginate beads, on the other hand, achieved the lowest removal rate at the same concentration, reaching 38.75% on the second of the experiment. The analysis of the biosorption process using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) before and after process showed that copper ions were primarily biosorped onto the algae cells surface.

Shatt Al-Arab River in Basrah Governorate is one of the most important rivers and waterways in southern Iraq. It consists of the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Qurna city, north of Basrah Governorate. The river has been subjected to environmental degradation due to many human effects. The most important of these effects is the presence of many wrecks and debris visible and completely submerged. The present study used Side Scan Sonar (SSS) and Sub Bottom Profiler (SBP) techniques to identify the submerged wrecks and detect the impact of these wrecks on the sedimentary situation of the river. The SSS and SBP surveys revealed the presence of 66 distinctive sites for these targets, in addition to different targets have been recorded mostly represented debris and a lot of tires. Some sites contained more than wrecks, as some sites recorded the presence of more than 5 wrecks. The targets identified include medium and small boats, tankers, pontoons, bridge structures, tugs, and unknown debris. Many completely submerged debris and shipwrecks have been discovered in the river. The SBP sections and satellite images explained that the presence of many wrecks, especially the large sizes, significantly changed the shape of the river banks over many years through their trapping of sediments.

One of the essential components of life is water, and that is why its monitoring is fundamental. The purpose of this research, therefore, was to estimate the concentration of chlorophyll-a using remote sensing data. Chlorophyll-a concentration in water is an indicator of phytoplankton density and, consequently, water quality, which in turn is crucial, as it represents the base of the ecological life in seas and oceans. Any increase or decrease in the number of phytoplankton may contribute to the disruption of the ecological cycle in the seawater. The study area was located in the northwest Arabian Gulf. The concentration of chlorophyll-a was mapped based on images captured by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on Aqua Satellite (MODIS) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor. The images were acquired in 2022. Chlorophyll-a concentration was estimated using an algorithm based on Band 4 and Band 5 of Landsat 8,9 OLI. The concentration of chlorophyll-a was found throughout the seasons of the year 2022, and it was found that its highest value is in the winter season and its lowest value is in the spring.