Platinum contamination in estuarine and coastal sediments has been evaluated in three cores collected from the Tagus Estuary and Prodelta shelf sediments. Elevated concentrations, up to 25-fold enrichment compared to background values, were found in the upper layers of the estuarine sediments. The degree of Pt enrichment in the estuarine sediments varied depending on the proximity to vehicular traffic sources, with a maximum concentration of 9.5 ng g(-1). A considerable decrease of Pt concentrations with depth indicated the absence of significant contamination before the introduction of catalytic converters in automobiles. Platinum distribution in the Tagus Prodelta shelf sediment core showed no surface enrichment; instead a sub-surface maximum at the base of the mixed layer suggested the possibility of post-depositional mobility, thereby blurring the traffic-borne contamination signature in coastal sediments.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.12.018 | DOI Listing |
Microb Ecol
January 2025
Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133, Rome, Italy.
Posidonia oceanica retains a large amount of carbon within its belowground recalcitrant structure, the 'matte,' which is characterized by low oxygen availability and biodegradation. Fungi may play a pivotal role in carbon sequestration within the matte, even if little/no information is available. To fill this gap, we profiled fungal communities from the upper and lower layers of alive and dead matte, by using an ITS2-5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Hazard Mater
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. Electronic address:
The potential release of radionuclides threatens marine ecosystems with the rapid development of coastal nuclear power plants in China. However, transport, dispersion, and final budget of anthropogenic radionuclides remain unclear, especially in the Bohai and North Yellow Seas, which are semi-enclosed marginal seas with poor water exchange. This study analyzed anthropogenic I concentration (a typical product of nuclear power plant operations) in seawater samples from this area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
Laboratory of Coastal Biology and Microplastic Analysis, Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Several methods can be used to mitigate coastal erosion, and one of the leading solutions is known as beach nourishment (BN), which involves using dredged material for nourishment, adding sand to extend an eroding beach. Although it has many advantages, the environmental impacts of BN remain poorly understood, especially on plastic pollution, which had not been investigated until this study. We aimed to compare the abundance and distribution of microplastics (MPs) found in intertidal sediments and specimens of the bivalve mollusks Crassostrea brasiliana, Mytella strigata, Perna perna, and Tivela mactroides, collected in two beaches of Vitoria, Southeast of Brazil (da Costa et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMar Environ Res
January 2025
School of Ocean Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, (Guangzhou)/Southern Laboratory of Ocean Science and Engineering (Zhuhai), China; Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center of Coasts, Islands and Reefs, Guangzhou, China.
The Pearl River Estuary (PRE) has experienced an influx of metals and nutrients, predominantly from the Pearl River, which has led to a potential threat to the estuarine ecosystem. In this study, sediment samples were densely collected to clarify the accumulation, and source contributions of heavy metals (namely Hg, Zn, Cu, As, Pb, Cd, and Cr) in the PRE. The spatial distributions of these metals exhibited significant differences, with higher values detected in the offshore areas and lower values further away.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Microbiol
January 2025
Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, and College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.
Deep-sea sediments contain a large number of Thaumarchaeota that are phylogenetically distinct from their pelagic counterparts. However, their ecology and evolutionary adaptations are not well understood. Metagenomic analyses were conducted on samples from various depths of a 750-cm sediment core collected from the Mariana Trench Challenger Deep.
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