Oceanography Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande, Av. Itália km 08 Campus Carreiros, Rio Grande, RS, 96201-900, Brazil.
Environ Monit Assess. 2019 Mar 28;191(4):256. doi: 10.1007/s10661-019-7404-5.
This study presents results of a sediment core located in Coroa de Boi Bay, a not dredged cove within Patos Estuary, Southern Brazil. The distribution of metals (Hg, Cu, Pb) and U in the sediment profile records several contamination events since pre-colonial times to present days. A joint assessment of the distribution of these parameters and the consultation to historical documents allowed us to establish causal links between concentrations anomalies in the sediments and ancient anthropogenic contamination in the area. During the industrial period, sedimentation rates in the bay ranged from 3.4 to 5.5 mm year. Applying a sedimentation rate previously calculated for undisturbed sediments in the Patos Estuary, we trace the beginning of Hg contamination as having started in the colonial period in Southern Brazil, soon after a Hispanic-Lusitanian conflict situation in South America. The most probable source of Hg contamination during this period was carroting technology used in fur processing.
本研究展示了位于巴西南里奥格兰德州 Patos 河口内未疏浚的科罗亚德博伊湾的一个沉积物岩芯的结果。金属（汞、铜、铅）和 U 在沉积剖面中的分布记录了自殖民前时期至今的多次污染事件。对这些参数的分布进行综合评估，并参考历史文献，使我们能够在沉积物中浓度异常与该地区古代人为污染之间建立因果关系。在工业时期，该湾的沉积速率范围为 3.4 至 5.5 毫米/年。应用先前为 Patos 河口未受干扰沉积物计算的沉积速率，我们可以追溯汞污染的开始时间，其始于巴西南部的殖民时期，即南美洲西班牙-葡萄牙冲突之后不久。在此期间，汞污染的最可能来源是皮毛加工中使用的熏制技术。
