Total dissolved and total particulate copper in Abu-Kir bay, a coastal Mediterranean basin under stress

Abstract
Abu-Kir Bay, a shallow semicircular basin east of Alexandria, has an area of 360 km ², an average depth of 12 m and a volume of 4.32 km ³. It receives Nile water. brackish lakewater and highly polluted industrial waters. Vertical water samples were collected seasonally from the bay for studying the distribution of total dissolved copper (TDCu), total suspended matter (TSM) and total particulate copper (TPCu). The depth differences of TDCu values were associated with variations in salinities between the water layers. The increase in TDCu content at low salinity in the mixed zone is due to local anthropogenic input from Lake Edku. The stepwise regression model shows that pH was the main factor controlling the TDCu variations, especially at Tabia Sector (TS). Copper was transported mainly to the bay in particulate form, following the considerable input of TSM. During friction of the in-and outflowing water layers with different salinities at the Maadia Sector (MS), a complicated adsorption/desorption behavior of TSM could be expressed as a result of changes in pH, ionic Srength and solution composition. The enrichment of TpCu near the outfalls decreased gradually seaward. A significant positive correlation existed between TPCu and TSM in the surfixe layer of TS.