Sedimentary heavy metal(loid) contamination in the Veracruz shelf, Gulf of Mexico: A baseline survey from a rapidly developing tropical coast

Abstract

This study examines sediment texture, geochemistry and sediment accumulation in cores from four sites in the Veracruz shelf area of the Gulf of Mexico, to assess the inputs of heavy metal(loid)s (and their potential biological impacts) in this carbonate-dominated shelf system, and to examine the rate of sedimentation near to the mouths of the La Antigua and Jamapa Rivers. The use of different pollution indices showed enrichment with Pb in all cores studied, although based on sediment quality guidelines As was the only element that has potential to occasionally cause damage to the benthic organisms present in the area. Heavy metal(loid) and sediment input from terrestrial and coastal sources is limited compared to more proximal, near-shore areas. The sediment core data presented however give a baseline dataset for heavy metal(loid) concentrations in the Veracruz shelf, against which future anthropogenic inputs can be assessed.

Bioavailable and Total Copper and Lead in Terrigenous Sediments in the Inner Continental Shelf Off Veracruz, Southern Gulf of Mexico

“…5, average total concentrations of Cu and Pb were higher in the OJ stations, both in the dry season (Cu: 11.1 ± 11.1 µg/g, Pb: 10.4 ± 6.33 µg/g) and in the rainy season (Cu: 7.54 ± 3.22 µg/g, Pb: 4.66 ± 0.42 µg/g), when compared to the GN and GS groups. So, as expected, the Jamapa River is an important source of Cu and Pb, which are included, mainly, in the siliciclastic fraction that constitutes the bulk of sediments in the ICSV, as previously suggested for Cu and/or Pb (Rosales-Hoz et al 2007, Horta-Puga and Carriquiry 2014, Celis-Hernández et al 2017, Horta-Puga 2017, Ba (Carriquiry and Horta-Puga 2010), and very probably for other trace metals. Another interesting result is that sediments in the GN, both in dry and rainy seasons, exhibited slightly higher average total concentrations of both elements than those from the GS (Fig.…”

“…These observations suggest that trace elements released by natural (Self 1977, Kasper-Zubillaga and Carranza-Edwards 2003, Armstrong-Altrin and Natalhy-Pineda 2013 or anthropogenic processes in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico also may reach the ICSV. However, only Cu has so far presented a high enrichment factor in sediments from the ICSV (Celis et al 2013(Celis et al , 2017.…”

Changes of Heavy Metal Content in Sediments at Haizhou Bay and Risk Assessment

“…Due to these features, heavy metal pollution is a growing concern throughout the world, posing threats to marine ecology and human health (Rahman and Ishiga, 2012;Phillips et al, 2015;Keshavarzi et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2018). In these years, many bays across the world have suffered disproportional heavy metal pollution (Hyun et al, 2007;Qiao et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2017;Pejman et al, 2017;Celishernandez et al, 2017;Naifar et al, 2018;Qu et al, 2018;Liang et al, 2018). Heavy metals, after finding their way into the water, adhere to and accumulate in suspended sediments before being released into the water again through complicated desorption mechanisms, so marine sediments are the "confluence" and "source" of heavy metal contents (Singh et al, 2005;Guan et al, 2016).…”

Impact of the Jamapa River Basin on the Gulf of Mexico

“…The presence of various pollutants of anthropic origin has been detected, Zamudio-Alemán et al, [31] in his research work: "Heavy metals in marine sediment of the National Park Veracruz Reef System (PNSAV)" had the objective of identifying the concentration of Cu, Cd and Zn in the sediments of the PNSAV, associated with the main sources of contamination, that influence the lower basin of the Jamapa River using atomic absorption spectrophotometry obtained concentrations of Cu,Cd and Zn of 0.1392;0.001 and 2.3606 mg kg −1 .…”