Trace metals on the Algarve coast, I: Associations, origins and remobilisation of natural components

The deep red colours observed on the topmost portions of cliffs along the Algarve coast are due to the presence of goethite/haematite pigments dispersed within the predominantly sandy sediments. Chemical and mineralogical analyses of these iron-enriched Pliocene/Quaternary siliciclastic sediments and of samples of terra rosa taken from carstic cavities in neighbouring calcareous terrains indicate the genetic link between these materials on the Algarve coast. The authors suggest that the terra rosas which developed on Tertiary and Mesozoic limestones were transported and deposited on top of sandy sediments cropping in a coastal area of the Algarve, during the period of erosion in Late Pliocene/Early Quaternary times. The distribution of trace elements in these sediments supports the conclusion that the later process of remobilisation and redistribution of the ferruginous pigments led to the formation of hardpans, globules and crusts. The dissolution and reprecipitation of the iron oxides leads to the transformation of goethite into haematite.Los colores rojo oscuro encontrados en las camadas superiores de los acantilados a lo largo de la costa del Algarve se deben a la presencia de pigmentos de goetita/hematita dispersos en los sedimentos predominantemente arenosos. Los análisis químicos y mineralógicos de muestras de estos sedimentos siliciclásticos enriquecidos de hierro, pertenecientes al Plioceno/Cuaternario, así como de las muestras de terra rosa tomadas de las cavidades cársticas en los terrenos calcáreos circundantes, permiten establecer la conexión genética entre ellas en la franja costera del Algarve. Se postula que, durante el periodo de erosión, las terra rosa desarrolladas sobre las calizas de Terciario y Mesozoico fueron transportadas y depositadas encima de los sedimentos arenosos aflorantes en el área costera del Algarve. El análisis de la distribución de elementos trazos en estos sedimentos ha permitido concluir que el último proceso de remobilización y redistribución de los pigmentos ferruginosos condujo a la formación de hardpans, glóbulos y costras. La disolución y reprecipitación de los óxidos de hierro, condujo a la transformación de la goetita en hematita.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Trace metals on the Algarve coast, II: Bioaccumulation in mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819)

Cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry in samples of soft tissues of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819), collected from 19 sampling points on the Algarve Coast (southern Portugal). Of all the sampling points, Portimão showed the highest metal concentrations in mussel tissues. Metal concentrations increased near urban centres and sources of industrial effluents. Consequently, the areas influenced by the Arade River, the Guadiana estuary and the Formosa Ria lagoon presented the highest metal concentrations. Metal concentrations in mussels from the west coast of the Algarve were higher than in those from the east coast. Our findings indicate that Cd and Cu concentrations in mussels from the different sampling points have increased over the last 10 years, while Fe, Mn and Ni concentrations along the Algarve Coast have fallen. These results are discussed in relation to the variation of human impact, some environmental factors, and other natural phenomena.Las concentraciones de cadmio, cobre, hierro, manganeso, níquel y zinc fueron determinadas por espectrofotometría de absorción atómica en muestras de tejidos de mejillones Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819), obtenidas en 19 puntos de muestreo en la costa del Algarve (sur de Portugal). Entre todos los puntos de muestreo, Portimão mostró la concentración más alta de metales en los tejidos de mejillón. Las concentraciones de metales se incrementan cerca de los núcleos urbanos y efluentes industriales. Consecuentemente, las áreas de influencia del río Arade, el estuario del Guadiana y el sistema lagunar Ría Formosa presentaron las más altas concentraciones de metales. Las concentraciones de metales en mejillones procedentes de la costa oeste del Algarve son mayores que las procedentes de la costa este. Los datos mostraron que las concentraciones de Cd y Cu en los mejillones procedentes de los diferentes puntos de muestreo han aumentado en los últimos diez años, mientras las concentraciones de Fe, Mn y Ni disminuyeron a lo largo de toda la costa. Los resultados han sido discutidos en relación con las variaciones de diversos factores ambientales, la influencia humana y la existencia de fenómenos naturales.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Human impact in the Ria Formosa lagoon

The Ria Formosa lagoon is a complex, economic, social-ecological system that provides valuable ecosystem services and benefits for the region. Nevertheless, the presence of hazardous substances such as metals, persistent organic compounds (POPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and emerging contaminants, including personal care products (PCPs) and pharmaceutical compounds, is a cause of concern for the sustainability of the lagoon. It can be concluded that the Ria Formosa lagoon is in danger, therefore management decisions need to be taken to reduce discharges and enable remediation. These will both protect and depollute, in order to decrease the impact of the mixtures of hazard substances and improve economic sustainability in the future.Project TOSCI – “Ambiente Participativo de Realidade Virtual 3D como ferramenta para o Turismo Científico na Ria Formosa", financed by CRESC Algarve 2020, PORTUGAL 2020 and FEDER (Fundo Europeu de desenvolvimento Regional).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Concentraciones de nutrientes en aguas costeras: impacto del Río Guadiana

Water samples were collected over an area of 900 km(2) adjacent to the outflow of the Guadiana River in January 1999 to characterize the concentrations and spatial distribution of nutrients (ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and silicate) in the water column. The purpose of the study was to characterize a winter situation of low discharge in terms of nutrient concentrations in the coastal area adjacent to the Guadiana outflow, before the reduction of the river flow due to the completion of the Alqueva Dam. The results show that the maximum influence of the Guadiana outflow was close to the mouth of the Guadiana River, where the highest nutrient concentrations and the minimum of salinity were registered. At the surface, the nutrient concentrations decreased gradually as the distance from the coast increased. The influence of the Guadiana outflow at the surface, despite being small, was evident in the area of about 90 km(2) that extends westwards from the mouth of the river. In this area, the increase in N compounds was more significant than in P and Si. The vertical influence of the outflow of the Guadiana River, until over the isobath lower than 30 m, was reflected in nutrient concentrations that decreased with the increase in depth. However, when the depth of the water column was greater than 30 m, the nutrient concentrations increased with the increase in depth. It is expected that with the completion of the Alqueva Dam, the outflow of the Guadiana River will be reduced even further. Nutrient concentrations will also be reduced and the influence of the river in the coastal zone will be even smaller. This could have a negative impact on the nutrient biogeochemical cycles and on the overall productivity of the area.En un área de 900 km2 alrededor de la desembocadura del Río Guadiana se recolectaron muestras de agua para caracterizar las concentraciones y distribución espacial de nutrientes (amonio, nitritos, nitratos, fosfatos y silicatos) en la columna de agua. El propósito de este estudio fue caracterizar la condición invernal de pocas descargas, en términos de concentración de nutrientes en el área costera adyacente a la desembocadura del Guadiana, antes de que el flujo del río se vea reducido por la conclusión de la Presa Alqueva. Los resultados indican que la mayor influencia de la descarga del Guadiana se observó cerca de la boca del río, donde se registraron las mayores concentraciones de nutrientes y la salinidad más baja. En superficie, las concentraciones de nutrientes disminuyeron gradualmente con el aumento de la distancia a la costa. La influencia de la descarga del Guadiana en superficie, aunque pequeña, fue evidente en el área de ~90 km2 que se extiende de la boca del río hacia el oeste. En esta área el incremento de compuestos de N fue más significativo que el de los de P y Si. La influencia vertical de la descarga del Río Guadiana, hasta por encima de la isóbata < 30 m se reflejó en las concentraciones de nutrientes que disminuyeron conforme aumentaba la profundidad. Sin embargo, cuando la profundidad de la columna de agua era > 30 m las concentraciones de nutrientes aumentaron con la profundidad. Es de esperar que con la terminación de la Presa Alqueva la descarga del río se vea aún más disminuida. Las concentraciones también se verán reducidas y la influencia del río en la zona costera será aún menor. Esto podría tener un impacto negativo en los ciclos biogeoquímicos de nutrientes y en la productividad global del área.proyecto SIRIA, financiado conjuntamente entre el Ministerio de Defensa y la Fundación de las Universidades de Portugal, en el marco del Programa Medio Ambiente y Defensainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Are shallow-water shrimps proxies for hydrothermal-vent shrimps to assess the impact of deep-sea mining?

Polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits are potential targets for deep-sea mining, but high concentrations of metals (including copper - Cu) may be released during exploitation activities, potentially inducing harmful impact. To determine whether shallow-water shrimp are suitable ecotoxicological proxies for deep-sea hydrothermal vent shrimp the effects of waterborne Cu exposure (3 and 10 days at 0.4 and 4 μM concentrations) in Palaemon elegans, Palaemon serratus, and Palaemon varians were compared with Mirocaris fortunata. Accumulation of Cu and a set of biomarkers were analysed. Results show different responses among congeneric species indicating that it is not appropriate to use shallow-water shrimps as ecotoxicological proxies for deep-water shrimps. During the evolutionary history of these species they were likely subject to different chemical environments which may have induced different molecular/biochemical adaptations/tolerances. Results highlight the importance of analysing effects of deep-sea mining in situ and in local species to adequately assess ecotoxicological effects under natural environmental conditions.This work was developed under the MIDAS project (Managing im-pacts of deep-sea resource exploitation), funded by the EuropeanCommission, European Union, 7th Framework Programme under thetheme“Sustainable management of Europe's deep sea and sub-seafloorresources”(Grant Agreement 603418). This work was also supported bythe Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia I.P. Portugal (FCT) and theDireção-Geral de Política do Mar (DGPM), Portugal through the projectMining2/2017/001–MiningImpact 2 (JPI Oceans), and FCT furtherfunded the grants CEECIND005262017 and UID/MAR/00350/2013.We acknowledge the captains and crews of the oceanographic ship“Pourquoi Pas?”, and the pilots of Victor 6000 Remotely OperatedVehicle, for their dedicated assistance during sampling of vent shrimps.We are also grateful to F. Lallier, chief scientist of the Biobaz cruise. Wewould like to warmly thank Océanopolis staffmembers, J-M Carré, SDelaporte and O Gouello, for their important contributions to shrimpmaintenance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monitoring Chemical Pollution in Europe’s Seas: Programmes, practices and priorities for research

This report has been produced by the Marine Board Working Group on Existing and Emerging Chemical Pollutants (WGPOL) first convened in 2008 and tasked to examine the assessment and monitoring of existing and emerging chemicals in the European marine and coastal environment. The Working Group considered (i) existing monitoring/assessment frameworks; (ii) current monitoring practices; and (iii) new and emerging chemicals of concern and the mechanisms used to include them in current monitoring programmes. The primary conclusions and recommendations of this position paper are: 1. Fully implement state of the art environmental risk assessment procedures (combining exposure and effect assessment) to evaluate the full impact of chemical substances on the different compartments of coastal and open sea systems. 2. Further improve the coordination, cooperation and harmonization between existing monitoring efforts and those under development, to avoid duplication of effort, loss of expertise and a reduced willingness to fulfil the obligations towards regional conventions. 3. Ensure that the development and implementation of monitoring programmes for the assessment of chemicals in marine and coastal environment are based on a science-based and dynamic process. 4. Apply more resources targeted at developing appropriate approaches, tools and practices (education and training) to improve the acquisition and management of monitoring data. In addition to the above main recommendations, two further recommendations have been identified on the basis of two specific case studies which form part of this paper and which focus on the release, effects and monitoring of (i) hydrophobic and insoluble chemicals in the marine environment from merchant shipping; and (ii) chemicals released by the offshore oil-industry in the North Sea. These case studies highlighted the need to: 5. Develop a consistent, pan-European or regional (legal) framework/regulation which covers the activities of the oil and gas industry at sea. At the same time, more information and research is needed on the release and the effects of chemicals arising from offshore oil and gas activities. 6. Develop and apply state-of-the-art environmental risk assessment procedures (combining exposure and effect assessments, including on human health) to evaluate the impact of noxious liquid substances listed under MARPOL Annex II on the different compartments in coastal and open sea ecosystems

Evidence of contamination by oil and oil products in the Santos-Sao Vicente estuary, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Different components of the mixed function oxidase (MFO) system and the levels of fluorescent aromatic compounds in bile (FACs) were measured in Cathorops spixii in order to assess the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Fish were sampled in an estuary (Santos/Sao Vicente) with a history of contamination by PAHs, mainly due to the presence of the industrial complex of Cubatao city and of another of low anthropogenic influence (Cananeia) on the Brazilian coast. FACs were higher in fish from the polluted site, and the PAH 5 and 6-ring metabolites were the most frequent - with 14% and 15%, respectively. Levels of the different components of the MFO system showed the same variation profile as the FACs for both estuaries. Therefore, the values found for somatic indexes and biomarkers with data of bile PAH metabolites indicate the presence of organic contaminants, especially in the area subject to the influence of the industrial complex on the Santos/Sao Vicente estuary.CAPES (Brazilian Agency for Science and Technology); Oceanographic Institute of Sao Paulo University; Laboratory of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Chemistry of the University of Algarve; CAPES-PDEE [BEX 2176/07-6]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Chemical and Microbiological Contamination in Limpet (Patella spp.) of the Portuguese Coast

Coastal production areas can be impacted by anthropogenic contamination from urban, agro-industrial and leisure activities. Some contaminants, such as chemical substances might also have a telluric origin. Non filter feeding univalve mollusks, such as limpets, which are collected in rocky shores either for sale or for auto-consumption, are very appreciated in Portugal, but have been excluded from provisions on the classification of production areas, although can present relevant contamination. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the microbiological and toxic metal contaminations in limpets (Patella spp) of the Portuguese coast, taking into account the production area and seasonal variation, and comparing their contamination levels with those occurring in bivalve mollusk indicator species, mussel (Mytilus edulis). The risks associated to the consumption of limpet meals were also assessed. For that, microbial total and fecal levels and cadmium, lead and mercury contents in limpets and mussels samples from three coastal areas over several months were analyzed based on standard methodologies. Contents of mercury and lead in limpets from the three areas studied, were always below the limits of 0.50 mg kg-1 and 1.5 mg kg-1 allowed by the EU, respectively. Regarding cadmium, levels in limpet were always above the limit of 1.0 mg kg-1, reaching about 3.0 mg kg-1 in some samples. These values probably indicate contamination from telluric origin (soil or rocks) in the coastal studied areas. Results indicated that microbiological contamination of fecal origin was low and in general below the detection level. Contamination levels did not show a clear seasonal pattern. The two mollusk species, limpets and mussels, differed statistically in all contaminants analyzed, being cadmium the most of concern, and always higher in limpets than in mussel samples. Thus, the potential risk associated with limpet consumption, taking into account the cadmium tolerable weekly intake (TWI), was investigated, being possible to reach a reliable recommendation of less than a monthly meal of 160 g. As recreational picking of limpets is common in Portugal, official 4recommendations of maximum periodic human consumption should be published and enforcement increased in forbidden areasinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Discerning natural and anthropogenic organic matter inputs to salt marsh sediments of Ria Formosa lagoon (South Portugal)

Sedimentary organic matter (OM) origin and molecular composition provide useful information to understand carbon cycling in coastal wetlands. Core sediments from threors' Contributionse transects along Ria Formosa lagoon intertidal zone were analysed using analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) to determine composition, distribution and origin of sedimentary OM. The distribution of alkyl compounds (alkanes, alkanoic acids and alkan-2-ones), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), lignin-derived methoxyphenols, linear alkylbenzenes (LABs), steranes and hopanes indicated OM inputs to the intertidal environment from natural-autochthonous and allochthonous-as well as anthropogenic. Several n-alkane geochemical indices used to assess the distribution of main OM sources (terrestrial and marine) in the sediments indicate that algal and aquatic macrophyte derived OM inputs dominated over terrigenous plant sources. The lignin-derived methoxyphenol assemblage, dominated by vinylguaiacol and vinylsyringol derivatives in all sediments, points to large OM contribution from higher plants. The spatial distributions of PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) showed that most pollution sources were mixed sources including both pyrogenic and petrogenic. Low carbon preference indexes (CPI > 1) for n-alkanes, the presence of UCM (unresolved complex mixture) and the distribution of hopanes (C-29-C-36) and steranes (C-27-C-29) suggested localized petroleum-derived hydrocarbon inputs to the core sediments. Series of LABs were found in most sediment samples also pointing to domestic sewage anthropogenic contributions to the sediment OM.EU Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate fellowship (FUECA, University of Cadiz, Spain)EUEuropean Commission [FP7-ENV-2011, 282845, FP7-534 ENV-2012, 308392]MINECO project INTERCARBON [CGL2016-78937-R]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio