Marsh Bulletin

This study investigated pesticide residues in some species of leafy vegetables that
are most consumed throughout the year, which included Celery, Basil, Cress, Mint, and
Purslane. It was collected from September 2019 to August 2020 monthly from a vegetable
grocer in the main markets in Basrah province. The results showed that 40% of the
samples were contaminated with residues of nine types of pesticides with high
concentrations, and only one sample exceeded the MRLs. Cress was the most polluted
crop with a percentage of 60%, followed by Purslane (50%), Celery (42%), and finally
Basil and Mint at 30% and 25%, respectively. Leafy vegetables collected in the autumn
season contained the most significant number of pesticide residues, while leafy vegetables
collected in the summer contained the fewest.

The current study was conducted to estimate the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic
petroleum hydrocarbons with their dissolved and suspended particles in the groundwater of
eight wells, the six wells from w1 to w6 close to the refinery area about half a kilometer to three
kilometers and the two wells w7 and w8 are away from the site about 12.5 km (wells of control),
in The area surrounding the South Refinery (Al-Shuaiba) Al-Zubayr district in Basra
Governorate, southern Iraq. Sixteen compounds of PAHs in water were identified in both the
dissolved and suspended parts in the spring of 2016 due to the high value of dissolved and
suspended hydrocarbons and the transport of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutantsthrough the rain
that transport the particles and dissolved materials through the pores of soil to groundwater.
The total concentrations of PAHs dissolved in water ranged between 7205 ng ∕ l in well W1. In
comparison, the lowest value was 39.1 ng ∕ l in well W8. The highest concentration of
Phenanthrene in well W1 was 3472 ng ∕ l, and the lowest concentration of Benzo (a) Pyrene
was 0.37 ng ∕ l for well W8. Benzo (b) Fluoranthene was recorded predominantly in the
dissolved part. The total concentrations of PAHs ranged from total suspended in water, between
the highest value of 9334 ng/ g dry weight in well W1. The lowest value of 370 ng/ g dry weight
in well W8 and the most abundant compound is Fluorene, as Dibenzo (a, h) anthracene recorded
the highest concentration of 6689 ng/ g dry weight in well W3 and the lowest concentration of
13 ng ∕ g the compound Benzo (a) anthracene was in well W8. It was concluded that oil refinery
has a significant impact in causing pollution of nearby water wells with some dangerous and
carcinogenic polycyclic hydrocarbon pollutants .

The target of this work was extracted DNA from cultured Brachionus plicatilis
which then subjected to PCR amplification and after that sequenced .The PCR
reactions were performed with only one isolate of Brachionus plicatilis having
identical sequences of 18S rDNA and recorded as one global isolate in the (NCBI of
USA, ENA of Europe and DDBJ of Japan).

The present study was conducted during four seasons in nine stations representing the Saffia
Nature Reserve, an area 44 km2 Al-Hawizeh marsh, southern Iraq. Physical and chemical
parameters were measured, including water temperature (WT), (pH), electrical conductivity (EC),
dissolved oxygen (DO) in addition to levels of nutrients from September 2019 to August 2020. To
assess the environmental impact on nature reserve could resist ecological disturbances; some
results showed that the water quality standards in the Al-Hawizeh marsh are all within the standard
parameters for freshwater habitats. Statistically, the analysis showed significant differences
between seasons and stations. In general, all parameters are within the tolerance limits of
freshwater plants and animals except for electrical conductivity (EC) and dissolved oxygen (DO),
which need to be monitored seasonally and spatially, as differences between different stations in
the nature reserve are observed in different seasons. Some recorded levels exceeded normal levels
favorable for freshwater aquatic organisms. The marshes' waters are rich in nutrients, especially
nitrates and phosphates, similarly reflecting high productivity to other Iraqi marshes. This is what
we did not find in the current study. The obtained results were compared in the area with other
studies. The recent survey could serve as a basis for additional monitoring and restoration of the
marshland ecosystem

The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental impact of crude oil spills
in soil in the Rumaila oil field, at Basra city, southern Iraq. Six soil samples were
collected near oil spill sites in the current study. The results of the grain size analysis
of the selected soil samples, generally are a silty sand containing a little clay. The
concentrations of T.n.alkane compounds were measured to determine the total
normal allkane content (TPH), the results showed a high concentration of total
hydrocarbons in soil samples. Samples the carbon number for the Aliphatic
compounds are ranged between (C41-C7) except for station (2), the sequence of
carbon compounds started from (C18) and ended at (C34). The highest
concentration reached (93.59) mg/g in the station (5), while the lowest
concentration was (0.5) mg/g in the station (3). A detailed study was conducted to
determine the concentrations for six heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni and Fe) were
(10.69, 17.17, 0.92, 101.29, 39.24 and 1511.17) ppm, respectively, these values
indicate that petroleum emissions are the main sources of these metals in soil. The
concentration of (Zn, Fe, Ni, Cu) was high in all soil samples, it exceeded the
international standard limits in the soil. For (Fe, Cu, Ni) (ppm).The results of Igeo,
EF and CF indices showed high pollution levels for Cu, Fe and Ni, the index
indicated that most metals caused low risk in all stations excepted Zn, Cd and Pb
have a moderate risk in the study area

Two stations, Al-Mehala and Al-Baradyea, at the middle section of Shatt Al-Arab
river, detect water stratification formation. Turbidity, electrical conductivity,
dissolved Oxygen, sodium ion, and chloride ion concentration were measured in
both stations during tide and ebb at surface and bottom layers, from July 2019 to
June 2020. The current results showed that the turbidity values ranged between
(2-70) NTU, the electrical conductivity ranged between (5.54-2.91) µs /cm, and
the dissolved oxygen results ranged between (2.7-6.2) mg/l, the results of the
chloride ion ranged between (450-3649) mg /l, and Sodium results ranged
between (309.11-1165.83) mg /l. Turbidity values were higher at both stations in
the bottom layer at tide and ebb face due to the current of the Gulf salt wedge. At
Al-Mehala station, weak halocline and chemocline developed due to stratification
between surface and bottom layers. Higher sodium and chloride ions
concentrations were detected at the bottom layer during tide and ebb compared to
the northern station at Al-Baradyea. Stratification (Halocline) appeared during
tide and disappeared in ebb at Al-Mehala station. AL-Baradyea station could
represent the end effect of the Gulf salt wedge. The Arabian Gulf salt wedge
extended in the Shatt Al-Arab river to cover the Al-Mehala station about 80 km to
the north of the Arabian Gulf.

An ecological survey was conducted during 2018-2019 to study the effect of
environmental factors on the geographical distribution of aquatic plants in the four sites of the
Tigris River in Maysan Province. Water and air temperature, electrical conductivity, and pH
environmental factors were studied. This study recorded twelve aquatic plants species in the
study stations, of which two were free-floating species, Azolla filiculoides (for the first time)
and Lemna minor. Three submersible species, Ceratophyllum demersum, Hydrilla verticillata,
Ranunculus trichophyllus, and two long emerged Phragmites australis and Typha domingensis.
There are three short emerged plants: Eclipta Alba, Persicaria salicifolia, Plantago lanceolata,
and two bank trees Populous euphratica and Salix acmophylla.

Shatt al-Arab River is one of the most critical inland streams in Iraq because of its different
monetary and social significance, the essential wellspring of surface water in Basrah Governorate.
Heavy metals are the main sources of pollution in Shatt al-Arab. In this work, standard methods
were adopted to collect, transport, and preserve samples as described in (APAH 2005) to get the
best result. The samples were collected from Al-Qurna, Al-Ashar, and Abo Al-Khatib from
Autumn 2019 to summer 2020. The samples were collected to measure the following parameters
(temperature, PH, Cl-
, SO4
-2
, HCO3
-
and some heavy metals in water, namely, Pb, Cd, Cu, Mn,
and Ni). Minitab version 19 for statics analysis was used. The results showed in range: temperature
(16.7 – 31.8) oC, pH (7.78 – 7.99), EC (2.81 – 4.05) ms/cm, Cl-
(592.9 – 1211) mg/l and SO4
-2
(199.2 - 451.2) mg/l. Heavy metals in water were Pb (34.8 – 102.4) µg/l, Cd (2.18 – 5.77) µg/l, Cu
(43.9 – 87.1) µg/l and µg/l, Ni (25.6 – 59.7) µg/l. The heavy metals Cu, Cd, Pb, and Ni were
recorded to have an observed anthropogenic origin, mainly from manufacturing activities.
However, the primary sources are industrial discharges, chemical weathering of minerals,
domestic sewage and waste, atmospheric precipitation, and traffic sources that increase their
concentration in water.