Abstract
This paper investigates the paleoenvironmental evolution of a core extracted in the middle sector of the Tinto River estuary, SW Spain, one of the most polluted areas in the world due to mining over thousands of years (>4 kyr BP) and recent industrial discharges. This evolution includes alluvial sands (>6.4 cal kyr BP), bioclastic sands and silts deposited in subtidal and intertidal channels during and after the Holocene transgression maximum (6.4-4.3 cal kyr BP), the sedimentation of clayey-sandy silts in low and high marshes during the last 2.4 kyr BP and a final anthropic filling. Three sharp peaks of pollution have been detected, representing a) a natural origin during the Holocene transgression; b) the impact of the first mining activities (~4.5 cal kyr BP); and c) the effect of industrial discharge and a new period of mining activity throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Foraminifera, ostracods and molluscs disappeared during these last two peaks.
Highlights
In the last few decades, numerous investigations have focused on the Holocene paleoenvironmental evolution of coastal areas through multidisciplinary analysis of sediment cores and seismic stratigraphy
A multidisciplinary analysis of a core extracted in the middle estuary of the Tinto River was used to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental evolution of this sector from the period prior to the Holocene transgression maximum to the present
Prior to ~6.4 cal kyr BP, this area was occupied by sandy alluvial deposits, which were flooded by the rise of the sea level during this maximum
Summary
In the last few decades, numerous investigations have focused on the Holocene paleoenvironmental evolution of coastal areas through multidisciplinary analysis of sediment cores and seismic stratigraphy. In most cases, studying paleoenvironmental evolution involves combining sedimentological, paleontological, geochemical, isotopic and radionuclide techniques (Pascual and Rodríguez Lázaro 2006, Ercilla et al 2010, Blázquez-Morilla et al 2018). These studies are used to determine local geochemical backgrounds, with a subsequent application to detecting environmental pollution episodes caused by mining, industrial waste, urban discharges and agricultural activities (Cearreta et al 2002, Beck et al 2020). The exploitation of these deposits began during the Tartessian period (~4.5 kyr BP), with mining of precious metals and copper (Tornos 2008)
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