MERCURY, LEAD, COPPER, ZINC AND IRON IN SHALLOW SEDIMENTS OF HAIFA BAY, ISRAEL

The long term record (1984-1993) of potentially toxic trace metals in Haifa bay shallow sediments were compared to relatively clean sediments from Palmachim and Nitzanim at the southern Israeli coast. All the stations within Haifa Bay were contaminated with mercury introduced by a chlor-alkali plant and the Kishon river. At most of the stations the levels of lead, zinc and copper, when normalized against iron showed contamination attributed mainly to the Kishon river as a land-base point source and to atmospheric input as a non-point source.