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Historical accumulation of potentially toxic trace elements resulting from mining activities in estuarine salt marshes sediments of the Asturias coastline (northern Spain)

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Abstract

The extensive extraction activity of mercury ores in Asturias (northwest Spain), also rich in As and Sb, has impacted the Nalón river estuary. The objective of this research was to assess the historical evolution of As-Hg-Sb accumulation in the salt marsh sediments of this area. For this purpose, sediment cores were collected from two different salt marshes (eastern and western river banks) in the estuarine environment to evaluate the degree of anthropogenic enrichment and the geochronology of As-Hg-Sb accumulation. Core subsampling was performed by cutting 2-cm-thick slices of sediments. The subsamples were then analysed for several physical and chemical parameters. Sedimentation rate was assessed by measuring short-lived radionuclides (excess 210Pb and 137Cs). Pre-mining levels of As-Hg-Sb were observed at core depths below 50 cm. In the less extended salt marsh (eastern river bank), maximum As-Hg-Sb concentrations of 87.48, 3.66, and 5.75 μg·g−1, respectively, were found at the core top as a consequence of long-term mining activity in the area. The vertical distribution of As-Hg-Sb was influenced by the single-point contamination sources, whereas grain-size variability and diagenetic remobilisation did not seem affected. Geochronological measurements showed that the depositional fluxes of As-Hg-Sb were influenced by anthropogenic input after 1900, when mining activity in the area was most intense. Hg mining ceased in 1969; however, the corresponding core profiles did not show a drastic decreasing trend in element fluxes, implying that the river drainage basin retains some “memory” of contamination which affects riverine sediments. A preliminary gross estimation of total As-Hg-Sb “trapped” in the Nalón river salt marsh sediments amounted to approximately 18.7, 1.0, and 0.7 t, respectively. These morphological structures suffer erosive processes, thus representing a potential source of these elements associated with sediments; consequently, management conservation and monitoring of salt marshes should be taken into consideration from this environmental point of view.

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Funding

This study was co-supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness through the Research Project METRAMER [grant number MINECO-13-CGL2013-44980-R] and the Asturias Ministry of Education and Science [grant number FC-15-GRUPIN14–067]. The authors are sincerely grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their help in improving an early version of the manuscript. Karry Close is warmly acknowledged for proofreading the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISYMA Research Group, Mining, Energy and Materials Engineering School, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    Efrén Garcia-Ordiales, Pablo Cienfuegos, Nieves Roqueñí & Jorge Loredo

  2. Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

    Stefano Covelli & Giorgio Fontolan

  3. Co.N.I.S.Ma. Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Piazzale Flaminio 9, 00196, Rome, Italy

    Stefano Covelli & Giorgio Fontolan

  4. GeoQUO Research Group, Department of Geology, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    German Flor-Blanco

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  1. Efrén Garcia-Ordiales
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  2. Pablo Cienfuegos
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  3. Nieves Roqueñí
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  4. Stefano Covelli
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  5. German Flor-Blanco
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  6. Giorgio Fontolan
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  7. Jorge Loredo
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Correspondence to Efrén Garcia-Ordiales.

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Responsible editor: Severine Le Faucheur

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Garcia-Ordiales, E., Cienfuegos, P., Roqueñí, N. et al. Historical accumulation of potentially toxic trace elements resulting from mining activities in estuarine salt marshes sediments of the Asturias coastline (northern Spain). Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 3115–3128 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0449-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0449-5

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