Abstract
San Simon Bay (inner Ria de Vigo, NW Spain) is a well-known polluted area because of its high Pb concentrations caused by waste discharges from a ceramic factory. The present study is focused on the historical and diagenetic monitoring of Pb pollution in this Bay based on sediment and pore water analyses of two cores collected in October 2010 adjacent to the factory using different techniques. A chronological framework was constructed based on 137Cs and 210Pb dating. Lead stable isotope ratios confirmed that the ceramic factory is still the main Pb source despite its closing in 2001. The historical monitoring of Pb pollution included ItraxTM Core Scanner (Itrax) analyses on the sedimentary record and the comparison with previous geochemical studies. The location of Pb maxima values in the cores allowed the estimation of sedimentation rates which were similar to those calculated from radionuclide dating. Moreover, Itrax analyses supported the results of the other techniques, but providing results with a higher resolution, and providing information about variations in cores composition that could affect radionuclide activities. The short-time interval required for obtaining the Itrax results and the high-resolution of the data, among other applications of this scanner, confirmed its importance as a complementary tool for Environmental coastal management.
Highlights
Sediments from tidal flats and marshes can record the pollution coming from urban and industrial activities performed in the littoral
The correlation range obtained between the ItraxTM Core Scanner (Itrax) profiles and conventional techniques proved the reliability of the Itrax data to rapidly know the relative variations of sediment composition along the cores
Even though San Simón Bay is a coastal system with anthropogenic Pb inputs, 210Pb and 137Cs dating, together with a detailed geochemical study allowed establishing sedimentation rates and determining the historical trend of metal inputs in the sediments
Summary
Sediments from tidal flats and marshes can record the pollution coming from urban and industrial activities performed in the littoral These ecosystems are usually quite protected from waves, while tidal currents are the main responsible of sediments’ distribution creating a declining grain-size trend from the distal part (sandy sediments) to land (muddy sediments).The low hydrodynamic energy of these areas favours pollutants’ accumulation in the sediments. The 210Pb dating method is based on the determination of the in excess 210Pb fraction (210Pbxs) and, afterwards, the adjustment of the activity profile by using an appropriate dating method [19,20,21,22] Another option is to collect sediment cores in the same study area periodically, and analyze and compare them. Fast and non-destructive techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF)
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