Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Geology

Sulibikhat Bay (the study area) represents the southeastern lagoonal subsystem of Kuwait Bay that is a major hydrogeomorphic feature of the Kuwait coastal area of the Arabian Gulf. It is mainly formed of tidal flat soft bottom sediments, which were indicated to be derived from mixed sources of particulates including dust fallouts and/or Shatt Al-Arab river/major estuarine system. However, these sources are not the only natural sources of stress affecting the sedimentation processes in the study Bay. Other factors such as regional and local hydrodynamic conditions,lithological characteristics of the bottom sediments, natural oil seeps and biogeochemical cycles and genetic forms of trace (heavy) metals, are essentially combined with intensive anthropogenic sources of stresses. These are the large input of effluents from nearby industrial centers around the Sulibikhat Bay shoreline. Furthermore, accidental inputs (e.g. Gulf war oil spill and oil-well fire fallout) may be considered in the present study as additional sources of stressors on the Bay environmental profile.Therefore, this study emphasizes on water quality and bottom sediments pollutants sources of Sulibikhat Bay to reveal the impacts of anthropogenic and natural factors controlling the Bay environmental profile and propose mitigation measures and monitoring system to improve its water and sediments quality

Issued also as CD