GEOCHEMICAL AND ECOTOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF AN ESTUARINE SEDIMENT SECTION AT PACOTI RIVER/CE, BRAZIL

• Autor(a) principal: de Souza, Ivanildo Surini
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: da Silva, Priscila Araújo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Holos
• Texto Completo: http://www2.ifrn.edu.br/ojs/index.php/HOLOS/article/view/4741
• topic: Geochemistry; toxicity; contamination; estuary; sediments

Pacoti estuary is located on the East coast of Ceará State/Brazil and is influenced by several sources of pollution. The sediment quality in three sampling stations was evaluated through an integrated approach. The sediments obtained were analyzed geochemically with respect to texture, organic matter, phosphorus, nitrogen and concentration of metals (Fe, Pb, Cu and Zn). Additionally, the metal loading in the sediment was determined considering a toxic risk quotient (RQ) and enrichment factor (EF). The ecotoxicological approach consisted of acute and chronic toxicity tests with species of marine invertebrates. The geochemical and ecotoxicological data were integrated using qualitative and technical criteria for multivariate analysis. The analyses showed a moderate change in the quality of the sediment Pacoti and there are influences of different contaminant sources. For this reason, one cannot disregard the input of other contaminants, not measured in this study, which probably may also have been relevant for sediment toxicity.  Nonetheless, the data suggest that Pb and Cu metals as well as N tended to quality degradation in depositional areas and the sediment had some influence on the biological effects observed.