Spatial and temporal Variability of bacterial and chemical pollution in marine sediments of the beach of Lattakia city

This study focuses on evaluation bacterial and chemical contamination of coastal sediments in three sites in the coast of Lattakia during the summer 2021 and winter 2022. It was achieved by determining the concentrations of heavy metals (lead and cadmium) and microbial contamination indicators (Total Bacteria (TB), Fecal Coliform (FC) and Fecal Streptococcus (FS). The source of pollution was determined by the FC/FS ratio. The results showed high values ​​of microbial contamination indicators and concentrations of heavy metals in the studied sites in winter and summer respectively, where TB values ​​were between (1.3-3.75) × 10 5 CFU/100g and (1.55-6.3) × 10 5 CFU/100g and FC Between (2.5-3) × 10 3 CFU/100g, FS (2-2.9) × 10 3 CFU/100g and lead concentration was (37.15-41.69) mg/kg and cadmium concentration was (1.67-3.14) mg/kg.