Distribution and enrichment evaluation of heavy metals in Mejillones Bay (23 degrees S), Northern Chile: geochemical and statistical approach.

A suite of 36 surface sediment samples, taken between 10 and 100 m water depth in Mejillones Bay (Northern Chile), were analyzed for mineralogy, grain size, total organic carbon, Al, and heavy metal content (Cd, Zn, Ni, Mn, V, Mo). Quartz and feldspars were the main lithogenic minerals and carbonate the predominant biogenic mineral. Sediments were fine sands in the shallow zone and organic silt in the deeper zone. Enrichment Factor and Factor Analysis approach showed that the presence of Mn in the marine sediment of Mejillones is due to a partial influence of continental input, while all other metals are not supported by lithogenic debris. Although all metals showed high concentrations in the marine sediment of Mejillones Bay, comparison between metal concentration in surface sediments and preindustrial levels in this bay, show that present values agree with natural levels.

[1]  Mansik Choi,et al.  Geochemistry of surface sediments off the southern and western coasts of Korea , 1999 .

[2]  N. Price,et al.  Geochemical associations and post-depositional mobility of heavy metals in coastal sediments: Loch Etive, Scotland , 1987 .

[3]  S. Calvert,et al.  Geochemistry of Recent oxic and anoxic marine sediments: Implications for the geological record , 1993 .

[4]  R. Escribano,et al.  Recording of ocean-climate changes during the last 2,000 years in a hypoxic marine environment off northern Chile (23°S) , 2000 .

[5]  C. E. Morales,et al.  Chlorophyll-a distribution and associated oceanographic conditions in the upwelling region off northern Chile during the winter and spring 1993 , 1996 .

[6]  H. González,et al.  The role of faecal material in the particulate organic carbon flux in the northern Humboldt Current, Chile (23°S), before and during the 1997–1998 El Niño , 2000 .

[7]  P. Bertrand,et al.  Etude à haute résolution d'un cycle de carbone organique des argiles du Kimméridgien du Yorkshire (Grande-Bretagne) : résultats préliminaires de géochimie et de pétrographie organique , 1992 .

[8]  D. Rothery,et al.  Ocean chemistry and deep-sea sediments , 1989 .

[9]  D. Loring.  Normalization of heavy-metal data from estuarine and coastal sediments , 1991 .

[10]  J. Valdés,et al.  Petrographic and geochemical study of organic matter in surficial laminated sediments from an upwelling system (Mejillones del Sur Bay, Northern Chile) , 2004 .

[11]  C. Blodau,et al.  Organic Matter Diagenesis in Acidic Mine Lakes , 2000 .

[12]  D. Hawker,et al.  Trace metals and nutrients in bottom sediments of the Southport Broadwater, Australia. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[13]  José A. Rutllant,et al.  Aluviones históricos en Antofagasta y su relación con eventos El Niño/Oscilación del Sur , 2000 .

[14]  P. Barbieri,et al.  Matching monitoring and modelling in the Gulf of Trieste. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[15]  D. Z. Piper,et al.  Inorganic geochemical indicators of glacial-interglacial changes in productivity and anoxia on the California continental margin , 1997 .

[16]  S. Emerson,et al.  Trace metal evidence for changes in the redox environment associated with the transition from terrigenous clay to diatomaceous sediment, Saanich Inlet, BC , 2001 .

[17]  J. D. Burton,et al.  Trace Metals in Sea Water , 1983 .

[18]  S. Libes.  An introduction to marine biogeochemistry , 1992 .

[19]  R. Escribano.  Population dynamics of Calanus chilensis in the Chilean Eastern Boundary Humboldt Current , 1998 .

[20]  E. Emelyanov.  Biogenic components and elements in sediments of the Central Baltic and their redistribution , 2001 .

[21]  E. Boyle,et al.  Glacial enrichments of authigenic Cd And U in subantarctic sediments: A climatic control on the elements' oceanic budget? , 1995 .

[22]  A. Mudroch,et al.  Summary of Surface and Background Concentrations of Selected Elements in the Great Lakes Sediments , 1988 .

[23]  J. Valdés,et al.  Paleoceanografia de bahia mejillones del Sur (Antofagasta, Chile) : resultados preliminares para el ultimo milenio , 1994 .

[24]  P. Szefer,et al.  Distribution and possible sources of some elements in the sediment cores of the Southern Baltic , 1988 .

[25]  W. Dean,et al.  Intensification of the Northeast Pacific oxygen minimum zone during the Bölling‐Alleröd Warm Period , 2000 .

[26]  R. Escribano,et al.  Spatial distribution of copepods in the north of the Humboldt Current region off Chile during coastal upwelling , 2000, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[27]  G. Cauwet.  Influence of sedimentological features on the distribution of trace metals in marine sediments , 1987 .

[28]  E. A. Gutiérrez-Galindo,et al.  Trace metal enrichment in surficial sediments of the northwest coast of Baja California, Mexico. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[29]  G. Vargas.  Interactions océan-atmosphère au cours des derniers siècles sur la côte du Désert d'Atacama : analyse multi-proxies des sédiments laminés de la Baie de Mejillones (23°S) , 2002 .

[30]  J. Valdés,et al.  Variaciones del sistema de surgencia de Punta Angamos (23 S) y la Zona de Mínimo Oxígeno durante el pasado reciente: Una aproximación desde el registro sedimentario de la Bahía Mejillones del Sur , 2003 .

[31]  P. Ildefonse,et al.  MULTICOMPONENT ANALYSIS OF FTIR SPECTRA: QUANTIFICATION OF AMORPHOUS AND CRYSTALLIZED MINERAL PHASES IN SYNTHETIC AND NATURAL SEDIMENTS , 1998 .

[32]  James W. Murray,et al.  Organic matter diagenesis in the northeast Pacific: transition from aerobic red clay to suboxic hemipelagic sediments , 1990 .

[33]  H. V. Joshi,et al.  Distribution, enrichment and accumulation of heavy metals in coastal sediments of Alang-Sosiya ship scrapping yard, India. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[34]  R. F. Nolting,et al.  The geochemistry of Cu, Cd, Zn, Ni and Pb in sediment cores from the continental slope of the Banc d’Arguin (Mauritania) , 1999 .

[35]  K. Turekian,et al.  Distribution of the Elements in Some Major Units of the Earth's Crust , 1961 .

[36]  Alfred Traverse,et al.  Sedimentation of organic particles: Frontmatter , 1994 .

[37]  Y. Eshet,et al.  Sedimentation of organic particles: Palynology of sedimentary cycles , 1994 .

[38]  G. Helz,et al.  Reconstructing the rise of recent coastal anoxia; molybdenum in Chesapeake Bay sediments , 2001 .

[39]  F. Millero,et al.  The distribution of trace metals in Florida Bay sediments. , 2003, Marine pollution bulletin.

[40]  P. Albéric,et al.  Optical and geochemical study of organic matter in present oxic sediments (Equatorial North Pacific Ocean Nixo area) , 1990 .

[41]  Luc Ortlieb,et al.  Foraminíferos bentónicos recientes en sedimentos micróxicos de la bahía Mejillones del Sur (23º S), Chile , 2001 .

[42]  Luc Ortlieb,et al.  Sedimentary facies and high resolution primary production inferences from laminated diatomacous sediments off northern Chile (23°S) , 2004 .

[43]  G. Cowie,et al.  Organic matter preservation through the oxygen-deficient zone of the NE Arabian Sea as discerned by organic carbon:mineral surface area ratios , 1999 .

[44]  Fred D. Calder,et al.  Interpretation of metal concentrations in estuarine sediments of Florida using aluminum as a reference element , 1990 .

[45]  D. Alongi,et al.  Composition and Behaviour of Trace Metals in Post-oxic Sediments of the Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea , 1996 .

[46]  J. Martin,et al.  The Significance of the River Input of Chemical Elements to the Ocean , 1983 .

[47]  R. Escribano,et al.  Upwelling shadows at Mejillones Bay (northern Chilean coast): a remote sensing in situ analysis , 2003 .

[48]  Robert J. Renka,et al.  Multivariate interpolation of large sets of scattered data , 1988, TOMS.

[49]  V. Marín,et al.  Identification of an upwelling zone by remote sensing and in situ measurements. Mejillones del Sur Bay (Antofagasta-Chile) , 1991 .

[50]  Luc Ortlieb,et al.  Paleoxigenación subsuperficial de la columna de agua en la bahía Mejillones del sur (23oS): indicadores geoquímicos en testigos de sedimento marino , 2001 .

[51]  L. López,et al.  Condiciones paleoambientales de sedimentación y preservación de materia orgánica en bahía Mejillones del Sur (23º S), Chile , 2000 .

[52]  F. Marquis,et al.  Rock-Eval 6 Applications in Hydrocarbon Exploration, Production, and Soil Contamination Studies , 1998 .

[53]  S. Emerson,et al.  The geochemistry of redox sensitive trace metals in sediments , 1999 .

[54]  J. Calvin Giddings,et al.  Mineralogical and textural controls on the organic composition of coastal marine sediments: Hydrodynamic separation using SPLITT-fractionation , 1994 .

[55]  J. Zwolsman,et al.  Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Trace Metals in Sediments from the Scheldt Estuary, South-west Netherlands , 1996 .

[56]  J. A. Brod,et al.  Metal Distribution in Sediments from the Ribeira Bay, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil , 2001 .

[57]  B. Bostick,et al.  Disulfide disproportionation and CdS formation upon cadmium sorption on FeS2 , 2000 .

[58]  Piotr Szefer,et al.  Evaluation of metal contamination in coastal sediments of the Bay of Bengal, India: geochemical and statistical approaches. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[59]  A. Russell,et al.  The behavior of redox-sensitive metals across a laminated–massive–laminated transition in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia , 2001 .