Preliminary assessment of the impact of draining of Iraqi marshes on Kuwait's northern marine environment. Part I. Physical manipulation

Kuwait's northern marine area is considered to be the receiving basin for t he influx of sediments and associated pollutants from the Shatt Al-Arab est uary. In recent years, Iraq has undertaken to drain the southern marshes, w hich acted as a sink for the sediment and its associated pollutants. The dr aining process is expected to significantly increase the rate of sedimentat ion and change the hydrodynamic regime of the northern Arabian Gulf. Thirty -three bottom sediment samples from the area likely to be impacted by the d raining of the marshes were collected and studied in 1997-98. Locations of sampling stations were selected as close to an earlier study done in 1982. The recent marine sediments of the study area are subdivided into five text ural classes: sandy clay, clay, silt, mud and sandy mud. The comparison of the results of this study with those of the 1982 study showed that finer se diments were deposited. Based on sediment distribution, characteristics of bottom sediments and the topographic nature of the study area, a north-sout h sediment transport from Shatt Al-Arab and the southern part of Iraq, affe cting the marine environment of Kuwait, is inferred. Comparison of water de pths of the 1956 and 1986 hydrographic maps, revealed that more deposition occurred in the northern area, and this was attributed to the draining proc ess. In general, there were some indications of the negative impact of the draining of the marshes, however, long-term and more detailed studies are n eeded. (C) 1999 IAWQ Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .