The investigation of heavy metal pollution between Yumurtalık - Karataş (Adana)

This Master thesis covers the coastline between Yumurtalık and Karataş districts. The aim of this study was to investigate the heavy metal pollution in the coastal sands between these two regions which adversely affected the living health. 24 samples were taken on the coastline between Yumurtalık and Karataş region. Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Hg, Ni, Cr, As, Cd all these elements were chemical analyzed by Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) the results obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO), of Turkey and four different countries of heavy metal concentrations were compared with the limit values. This comparison showed that the As, Zn, Cu, Mn and Hg elements are below the standards; Fe and Cr elements are located above the borders in Karataş region. The results of the analysis of Cd and Ni elements were above the standards in both regions. It is observed that the parameters that constitute the pollution occur due to environmental factors, it is thought that the geological structure in the region has an effect on the increase of Ni element amounts. Symbology and interpolation maps were created by GIS technique using all these data. In addition, sand samples; The enrichment factor (Ef), the Contamination factor (Cf), the pollution degree (Cd), the correlation relationships and the Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo) values were taken into consideration.