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Background and aim  Mediterranean Sea, Egypt is an economically important marine environment. During the last decades there has been extensive increase in the levels of urbanization and industrialization along its coastal area. Therefore, the present work attempts to determine the status of heavy metals distribution in sediment samples, and their ecological risk assessment in the studied area.    Materials and methods  Twenty surfacial sediment samples were collected from different selected stations along the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea. The samples were homogenized and placed into sealed polyethylene bags, carried to the laboratory in an ice box and stored at −20 °C in the dark until analysis.    Results  The results revealed that Fe had the highest mean value (243–38045 μgg −1 ) followed by Mn (17–1086 μgg −1 ), and a lower concentrations were found for Co (0.43–26.39 μgg −1 ) and Cd (0.04–0.47 μgg −1 ). Risk assessment showed that Cd had the highest ecological risk (Er = 21.52), followed by Pb (Er = 3.01), while Zn had the lowest risk (Er = 0.23). Both the ecotoxicological index method and the potential ecological risk index (RI) suggested that the combined ecological risk of the studied metals may be low. Multivariate statistical analysis (Cluster and Factor analysis) suggested that the lithogenic factor dominants the distribution of most part of the considered metals in the study area.    Conclusion  Multivariate analysis has been proved to be an effective tool for providing suggestive information regarding heavy metal sources and pathways. The results of this study provide valuable information about metal contamination in sediments along the Mediterranean Sea for over than 1200 km.

Potential ecological risk of heavy metals in sediments from the Mediterranean coast, Egypt