Historical trends (1998-2012) of nickel (Ni), copper (Cu) and chromium (Cr) concentrations in marine sediments at four locations in the Northern Adriatic Sea.

Historical trends (1998-2012) nickel (Ni), copper (Cu) and chromium (Cr) concentrations in marine sediments were assessed at four locations in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Croatia) in the proximity of an oil refinery. Ecological risks were characterized by benchmarking the dataset against Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQG). A significant number of samples had Ni values above ERL with no exceedance of the ERL values for Cu and Cr.