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| Titel |
Metals anomalies in foraminiferal shells as indicators for industrial
pollution: a case study from the Mediterranean coast of Israel |
| VerfasserIn |
Danna Titelboim, Aleksey Sadekov, Ahuva Almogi-Labin, Barak Herut, Michal Kucera, Sigal Abramovich |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250144261
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-8066.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| In recent years we have been witnessing a considerable growth of industrial facilities along
coastal areas. Some of these have major economical and national importance yet their
operation can introduce a wide range of chemicals that might contaminate the coastal area
and impact local ecosystems and our health. Among some of these harmful chemicals are
metals that are introduced to the coastal environment by some of these facilities.
Here we present a novel approach for monitoring low-level industrial pollution in
coastal environments based on anomalies in metal concentration within foraminiferal
shells.
Living foraminifera are used as bio-indicators of the environmental status of any marine
habitat. As unicellular organisms with short life and reproductive cycles, they are extremely
sensitive to long and short-term changes. The majority of foraminifera precipitate CaCO3
(low-Mg-calcite, high-Mg calcite or rarely aragonite tests). Their calcareous shells are
precipitated by a mechanism that involves direct seawater vacuolization which reflects
the chemical composition of the ambient water. For this reason the geochemical
composition of their shells is particularly applicable as a tool for marine environmental
monitoring.
Material for this study was obtained during the monthly campaigns of a biomonitoring
project (2012-2015) of a heat polluted area and of a nearby natural clean station off the
northern Mediterranean coast of Israel. Essentially, monitoring of water chemistry in both
habitats showed no indications of presence of heavy metal contamination. Yet, laser ablation
inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyses of two common local
foraminifera the hyaline species Pararotalia calcariformata and the miliolid species
Lachlanella sp. 1 that were collected alive from both areas, recorded presence of various
metals (Mn, Cu, Zn, Ba, Pb) within their shells. Metal concentrations within the miliolid
species were significantly higher than those of the hyaline species despite of the fact that both
species were collected from the same environment. For example, the concentration
of Cu in the ambient water was lower than 1μg/L, whereas the values recorded
in P. calcariformata ranged between 2-12 μg/L in and between 11-157 μg/L in
Lachlanella sp. 1. These results highlight the efficiency of using miliolid species
that are extremely common in shallow coastal areas as recorders of extremely low
concentrations of metals, thus potentially detecting pollution before harming the ecosystem. |
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