Assessment of metal contamination in shallow coastal sediments around Mytilene, Greece

Different normalisation procedures were applied on a data set of metal concentrations of sediments from 28 stations in the harbour and coastal area of Mytilene, Lesvos island, Greece. Due to the great granulometric variability of the sediments the normalisation for grain-size was not applicable. Also, the normalisation to a carbonate-free basis did not provide additional information. On the other hand the normalisation to Al and the calculation of enrichment factors of metals enabled to distinguish between contaminated and non-contaminated areas. The harbour sediments were highly enriched in Cd, Cu and Zn and also slightly enriched in Pb. No enrichment was found in the sediments of the coastal area outside the harbour, indicating that the metal rich deposits of that confined area are not affecting the quality of the neighbouring coastal environment.