LAUSR

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate heavy metal pollution in coastal seawater collected from industrial and non-industrial areas of Iskenderun Bay. The concentrations of heavy metals (Fe, Ni, Mn, Cr, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Co and Al) in the seawater samples were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The accuracy of the methods was confirmed by certified reference materials. The relative standard deviation for the analytical procedure was better than 5%. Seasonal changing of some physicochemical parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids) in seawater samples have been investigated for the assessment of quality of coastal seawater in Iskenderun Bay. Chemometric techniques (principal component analysis, cluster analysis and correlation analysis) were used to classify of the water samples. The obtained results allowed the determination of two major clusters, reflecting the groups of unpolluted and polluted stations. On the basis of the chemometric approach, it was found that some locations were under the influence of factory contamination within the observed time period. The study showed that the use of chemometrics provides useful and promising indicators to evaluate the data.