Biogeochemistry of Elements and Contaminants in the Coastal and Shelf Seas

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Oceanography".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2022) | Viewed by 10645

Special Issue Editors

Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Athens, Greece
Interests: microplastics; integrated monitoring and assessment; dissolved trace metals; marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) cycling and its optical properties
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Athens, Greece
Interests: marine environment; biogeochemical cycling of natural and anthropogenic hydrocarbons in the water column and sediments; sedimentary record studies of natural and anthropogenic hydrocarbons; organic contaminants; lipid biomarkers
Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Athens, Greece
Interests: dissolved organic carbon in natural waters; optical properties of chromophoric and fluorescent dissolved organic matter; molecular absorbance spectroscopy; 3D fluorescence spectroscopy; EEMs; parallel factor analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal waters and shelf seas act as a buffer zone between land and the open ocean. They provide valuable ecosystem services to human societies but at the same time face multiple natural and anthropogenic stresses which are able to produce non-reversible damage to their functioning. Pressures related to climate change and the ever-increasing demographic/economic growth affect the biological, chemical, and physical processes involved in the biogeochemical cycling of elements (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus) therein. Human intervention affects trace metal (re-)distribution with consequences related to their bioavailability, while legacy and emerging contaminants are of special concern in respect of their cumulative impact on biota. This Special Issue aims to contribute to our understanding of the biogeochemistry of elements and contaminants in coastal and shelf waters and sediments under human perturbation, including interactions with land and the air–water/water–sediment interfaces. Within this framework, contributions on related experimental work are also welcome.

Dr. Christina Zeri
Dr. Constantine Parinos
Dr. Elli Pitta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • coastal zone
  • shelf seas
  • trace metals cycling–sources–sinks
  • carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling–sources–sinks
  • synthetic compounds/contaminants
  • climate change
  • water pollution
  • ecotoxicology

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 4651 KiB  
Article
Vertical Distribution and Chemical Fractionation of Heavy Metals in Dated Sediment Cores from the Saronikos Gulf, Greece
by Eleni Prifti, Helen Kaberi, Vasiliki Paraskevopoulou, Panagiotis Michalopoulos, Christina Zeri, Stylianos Iliakis, Manos Dassenakis and Michael Scoullos
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(3), 376; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jmse10030376 - 06 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2493
Abstract
The Saronikos Gulf is under a lot of anthropogenic pressure, such as the urban expansion of the metropolitan area of Athens, the port of Piraeus and marinas, industrial activities, and tourism. Heavy metal pollution has been a major environmental problem in the area [...] Read more.
The Saronikos Gulf is under a lot of anthropogenic pressure, such as the urban expansion of the metropolitan area of Athens, the port of Piraeus and marinas, industrial activities, and tourism. Heavy metal pollution has been a major environmental problem in the area for many decades. Sedimentary cores have proven to be an invaluable indicator of heavy metal pollution, as they can reveal not only the current metal inputs but also the evolution of pollution over time, and with the appropriate geochemical analyses, they can provide information on the potential toxicity of metals. In this study, the temporal evolution and the chemical speciation of eleven elements were examined in sediment cores from Elefsis Bay and the Inner Saronikos Gulf, with an emphasis on the emerging environmental hazards (V and Ag). The results showed extensive pollution of the sediments by Ni, Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Cd, and Pb from the 1910s and 1960s in Eastern and Western Elefsis Bay, respectively. A significant decrease of the sediment enrichment in V, Ni, Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, and Ag since 2000 was observed in the part of the Inner Saronikos Gulf that is mainly influenced by the WWTP of Athens. However, a toxicity assessment using the metal contents of the surface sediments showed that most of the trace elements studied still pose a moderate to high risk of toxicity to benthic ecosystems. The present study highlighted the urgent need for focused research and the management of trace element inputs, particularly Ag in the Inner Saronikos Gulf, where severe sediment modification was evident. Full article
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18 pages, 1944 KiB  
Article
Bulk Chemical and Optical Spectroscopy Characterisations of Dissolved Organic Matter Extracted from the Tropical Coastal Sediment
by Noor Fazreen Dzulkafli, Akbariah Mahdzir and Hirofumi Hara
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(9), 997; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jmse9090997 - 13 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1994
Abstract
The study of organic matter characterisation in coastal sediment is useful for understanding how dissolved organic matter (DOM) reactivity influences the fate of pollutants in the aquatic environment. However, there is little information available on the structural properties of DOM in coastal sediment. [...] Read more.
The study of organic matter characterisation in coastal sediment is useful for understanding how dissolved organic matter (DOM) reactivity influences the fate of pollutants in the aquatic environment. However, there is little information available on the structural properties of DOM in coastal sediment. Chemical analysis, UV-Visible (UV-Vis) absorbance, fluorescence, and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used in this work to characterise and compare the components of water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) fractions from sediment from an estuary, a coastal area, and a port in Peninsular Malaysia, Malaysia. The elemental analysis (H/C and C/N ratios) of the three samples differed, which coincided with the findings of optical indices estimated from UV-Visible and fluorescent spectroscopy analyses. WEOM had an average output of 7.05 to 8.47 mg/L and was very dominating with heavy fraction organic carbon (HFOC). In DOM-KS and DOM-K sediments, the allochthonous component with a high degree of condensation and the aromatic compound was the dominating composition. Meanwhile, the DOM-KT possessed a high autochthonous composition as well as carboxylic and phenolic content. Correlation analysis indicates that the aromaticity index SUVA254 and humification index (HIX) have positive correlations. The combined results of the chemical and spectroscopic analyses indicate that different coastal ecosystems, with the integration of various human and land activities, produce variations in DOM in the coastal area. Full article
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13 pages, 1953 KiB  
Article
Microplastics in Surface Sediments along the Montenegrin Coast, Adriatic Sea: Types, Occurrence, and Distribution
by Neda Bošković, Danijela Joksimović, Milica Peković, Ana Perošević-Bajčeta and Oliver Bajt
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(8), 841; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jmse9080841 - 04 Aug 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2652
Abstract
Considering that microplastics are widespread in the marine environment, in this study we evaluated the presence, identify distribution, abundance, shape type, and color of microplastics in surface sediment along the Montenegrin coast, on the Adriatic Sea. These preliminary results provide the first published [...] Read more.
Considering that microplastics are widespread in the marine environment, in this study we evaluated the presence, identify distribution, abundance, shape type, and color of microplastics in surface sediment along the Montenegrin coast, on the Adriatic Sea. These preliminary results provide the first published record of microplastics found in the surface sediment of this area and highlight the importance of microplastics as a component of marine debris. We documented the presence of microplastics at all sampling locations. The identification of polymer types was performed using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, whereby the presence of three polymer types became evident: polypropylene (54.5%), polyethylene (9.7%), and acrylate copolymer (2.0%). Another 22.2% of particles were unidentified polymers, and the remaining 11.5% were non-synthetic materials. The most common shape type of microplastics was filaments (55.5%), followed by granules (26.3%), fragments (14.9%), and films (3.3%). The dominant colors of microplastics followed the order: blue > yellow > red > clear > black > green > blue-white > white. The average abundance of microplastics in all sampling locations was 609 pieces of microplastic/kg of dry sediment. Compared with other studies, the surface sediment of the Montenegrin coast is moderately to highly polluted with microplastics, depending on the examined location. Full article
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14 pages, 2070 KiB  
Article
Study of Microplastics and Inorganic Contaminants in Mussels from the Montenegrin Coast, Adriatic Sea
by Sara De Simone, Ana Perošević-Bajčeta, Danijela Joksimović, Romeo Beccherelli, Dimitrios C. Zografopoulos and Valentina Mussi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(5), 544; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jmse9050544 - 18 May 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2652
Abstract
Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) collected at three locations in Boka Kotorska Bay, on the Montenegrin Adriatic coast, were analyzed for the first time by optical and Raman microscopy to detect microplastics (MPs) and other emerging contaminants in their soft tissues. Concentrations of [...] Read more.
Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) collected at three locations in Boka Kotorska Bay, on the Montenegrin Adriatic coast, were analyzed for the first time by optical and Raman microscopy to detect microplastics (MPs) and other emerging contaminants in their soft tissues. Concentrations of six trace metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, Cd, and Hg) were also measured in the same samples by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Mussels from a location near the urban area of Kotor were found to exhibit the highest content of MPs and other pollutants originating from anthropogenic sources, while farmed mussels showed higher carotenoid as well as nylon content. The hypothesis of MPs acting as a possible secondary route of trace metals ingress in mussels, a thus far scarcely studied topic, was evaluated based on a comparative analysis of the obtained results. In this context, it was noticed that nylon filaments originating from mussel farming equipment might contribute to higher trace metal content. The results showed that the simultaneous analysis of different contaminants in mussels can be a significant step forward in marine environment pollution monitoring and the assessment of human health risks associated with the consumption of contaminated seafood. Full article
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