Occurrence and sources of polar lipid tracers in sediments from the Shatt al-Arab River of Iraq and the northwestern Arabian Gulf.

Shallow surface sediment samples from the southern part of the Shatt al-Arab River estuary of Iraq and the northwestern Arabian Gulf were analyzed for polar lipid compounds including n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanols, steroids and triterpenoids. The results showed that the n-alkanoic acids, methyl n-alkanoates and n-alkanols typically ranged from C12 to C32 with total concentrations of 3.2 to 108.

Persistent DDE in the Mesopotamian wetlands of southern Iraq.

Screening of potential pollutants in surface sediments revealed that almost all persistent organochlorine pesticides were not detected in the newly flooded Mesopotamian wetlands of southern Iraq. This observation suggests that there has been minimal input of organochlorine pesticides recently except for p,p'-DDE which was the only pesticide residue detected (0.29-2.