Mohammad Forouhar

In this study, pollution zoning was mapped across all coastal areas of the Persian Gulf for three elements: seawater, sediments, and the Tigertooth croaker (Otolithes ruber). Four sampling regions were designated along the coast, from which 80 seawater samples, 80 sediment samples, and 40 fish samples were collected. In the present study, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) was used to map variations in heavy metals across different stations through spatial analysis using ArcGIS 10.7. To measure the levels of metals in the samples, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was employed. Results indicated that, in seawater, the concentrations of nickel (Ni), vanadium (V), and lead (Pb) decrease from the western to the eastern coasts. Similar results were observed for these metals in the sediments. This study is the first to produce a pollution map of the Persian Gulf coast, considering both sediment and seawater parameters. It is hoped that this method, or other modeling techniques, will replace traditional pollution detection methods in future research. This study could also pave the way for the development of other zoning models.