Developing an Intelligent Data Analysis Approach for Marine Sediments

(1) Background: As the chemical and physicochemical properties of marine sediments are closely related to natural and anthropogenic events, it is a real challenge to use their specific assessment as an indicator of environmental pollution discharges. (2) Methods: It is addressed in this study that collection with intelligent data analysis methods, such as cluster analysis, principal component analysis, and source apportionment modeling, are applied for the assessment of the quality of marine sediment and for the identification of the contribution of pollution sources to the formation of the total concentration of polluting species. A study of sediment samples was carried out on 174 samples from three different areas along the coast of the Varna Gulf, Bulgaria. This was performed to determine the effects of pollution. As chemical descriptors, 34 indicators (toxic metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, nutrient components, humidity, and ignition loss) were used. The major goal of the present study was to assess the sediment quality in three different areas along the Gulf of Varna, Bulgaria by the source apportionment method. (3) Results: There is a general pattern for identifying three types of pollution sources in each area of the coastline with varying degrees of variation between zone A (industrially impacted zones), zone B (recreational areas), and zone C (anthropogenic and industrial wastes). (4) Conclusions: The quantitative apportionment procedure made it possible to determine the contribution of each identified pollution source for each zone in forming the total pollutant concentrations.