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Metal contents in coastal waters of San Jorge Bay, Antofagasta, northern Chile: a base line for establishing seawater quality guidelines

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Abstract

We measured the concentration of 12 metals in coastal waters of seven sites of San Jorge Bay in Antofagasta (northern Chile), in order to relate the presence of metals with the different uses of San Jorge Bay coastal border, and to evaluate the quality of the bay’s bodies of water according to the proposed current Chilean Quality Guide for trace elements in seawater (CONAMA 2003). The results suggest that the coastal water of San Jorge Bay has very good quality according to the proposed regulation mentioned above. However, the distribution of metals such as Cu and Pb along the bay’s coast line evidences a notorious effect of the industrial activity, which would involve different behavior patterns for some trace elements in some bodies of water, suggesting that the levels indicated in the environmental guideline of the Chilean legislation do not represent pollution-free environments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Sedimentología y Paleoambientes, Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas, Facultad de Recursos del Mar, Universidad de Antofagasta, Casilla 170, Antofagasta, Chile

    Jorge Valdés

  2. Laboratorio de Química Bio-Inorgánica y Analítica Ambiental, Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile

    Domingo Román, Lidia Rivera, Juan Ávila & Pedro Cortés

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  1. Jorge Valdés
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  2. Domingo Román
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  3. Lidia Rivera
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  4. Juan Ávila
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  5. Pedro Cortés
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Correspondence to Jorge Valdés.

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Valdés, J., Román, D., Rivera, L. et al. Metal contents in coastal waters of San Jorge Bay, Antofagasta, northern Chile: a base line for establishing seawater quality guidelines. Environ Monit Assess 183, 231–242 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-1917-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-1917-x

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