N-ALKANES IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF AL – HAMMAR MARSH, SOUTHERN IRAQMariam F. Al-Bidhani, Salah Mahdi Saleh, Abdalhussein A. Khwedem and Hamid T. Al-SaadAbstract Marshes are one of the oldest natural water bodies in the Middle East located in southern Iraq, where Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet. It represents natural sources of much food stuff such as fish, agricultural materials and cows. Also, it considers a shelter for hundreds of migratory birds in winter. The present study includes the collection of water samples from different areas of Al â Hammar marsh to estimate the concentration of normal alkanes which were analyzed by using capillary Gas Chromatography (GC) technique. The concentrations of normal alkanes were (0.039, 0.002, 0.002, 0.001) μg/l in (Lusan Harer, Almusahab, Alnakara and Alburka) respectively. In addition the study included evaluating the Carbon Preference Index (CPI) for the same areas which were (0.083, 0.263, 0.312 , 0.086 ) respectively, which indicate that the hydrocarbons in these areas were from anthropogenic origin. |