Selenium Enrichment in Pore Water of Estuarine Sediments Subject to Salt Marsh Vegetation Bioirrigation (Patos Estuary, Southern Brazil).

Abstract

Selenium (Se), iron (Fe), and free sulfides contents in pore waters were measured to study the liberation of soluble Se in suboxic conditions. The sediment core was collected in a salt marsh in Patos Lagoon estuary (southern Brazil), and it was obtained during a brackish water period, in a low intertidal stand vegetated by Spartina alterniflora. The redox potential (Eh), pH, andacid volatile sulfides (AVS) content were also investigated. Pore water results sustained the idea that S. alterniflora roots promote oxygen penetration to depths of ca. 10cm below the salt marsh surface, increasing Eh and lowering the pH in this interval. High Se concentrations (e.g., 16.9µg L-1), that are above US. EPA environmental criteria, were observed in the pore water to depths between 10 and 20cm and are associated to low AVS contents and high concentrations of free sulfides. In the first 10cm the lowering of Se contents probably happens due the low pH and biological volatilization of the metalloid.