Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (IADO - CONICET/UNS), Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
Environ Monit Assess. 2018 Aug 18;190(9):532. doi: 10.1007/s10661-018-6930-x.
Coastal areas are urbanized and industrialized environments, affected by dredging operations, discharges of untreated municipal wastewaters, and farming. Developing countries are in continuous growth and will deal, in a close future, with the highest rate of coastal transformation, posing serious risks for the ecological and environmental value of ecosystem assets. This research aims to study the dissolved and particulate Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn values within an argentinean estuarine environment which is currently under human-induced pressures. Concentrations of all the metals under analyses showed seasonal variability of both dissolved and particulate metals. An important outcome of this study was that dissolved Cr, Pb and Zn attained maximum values and overall increased concentrations with respect to previous records from the same area. Indeed, the highest concentrations were found during the dredging operations or in association with increases in the metal levels from wastewater discharges. The results also indicated that human activities contributed the least to the dissolved Ni concentrations. The particulate fraction of Cr, Ni and Zn showed an upward trend in the concentrations, particularly during the last two sampling dates, being also positively correlated between each other. Regarding their respective environmental quality standards, many samples achieved dissolved Cr and Zn concentrations above the maximum values recommended by international guidelines. Thus, this study highlights the possibility of stressors like dredging activities and municipal wastewaters to cause increases in the water column pollution levels.
沿海地区是城市化和工业化的环境，受到疏浚作业、未经处理的城市废水排放和农业的影响。发展中国家正在持续增长，在不久的将来，将面临沿海地区转型的最高速度，这对生态系统资产的生态和环境价值构成了严重风险。本研究旨在研究当前受到人为压力影响的阿根廷河口环境中溶解态和颗粒态 Cr、Ni、Pb 和 Zn 的含量。所有分析金属的浓度均表现出溶解态和颗粒态金属的季节性变化。这项研究的一个重要结果是，与同一地区以前的记录相比，溶解态 Cr、Pb 和 Zn 达到了最高值和整体浓度增加。实际上，在疏浚作业期间或与废水排放中金属水平升高相关时，发现了最高浓度。结果还表明，人类活动对溶解态 Ni 浓度的影响最小。Cr、Ni 和 Zn 的颗粒部分浓度呈上升趋势，特别是在最近两次采样期间，彼此之间也呈正相关。根据各自的环境质量标准，许多样本的溶解 Cr 和 Zn 浓度超过了国际指南建议的最高值。因此，本研究强调了疏浚活动和城市废水等胁迫因素可能导致水柱污染水平升高。
