Assessment of the Impact of Industrial Development at the Coast of Lévrier Bay Through the Spatio-Temporal Study of Metallic Contaminants (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Hg) in Surface Sediments

Abstract

Lévrier Bay is located at the northern Atlantic Mauritanian coast, between 19 ° 20'N and 20 ° 40'N and between the coast and 17 ° 20W in the vicinity of Cap Blanc peninsula. This work aims at contributing to the assessment the impact of industrial development in the Lévrier Bay through the study of the toxicity and the spatio-temporal distribution of trace metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Hg) in surface sediments, during the four hydrological seasons. The trace metal concentrations of the sediments are generally heterogeneous and vary according to the metal analyzed and the sampling site according to the order Zn> Cu>Pb> Cd>Hg. In fact, the present work shows higher average concentrations of metals studied in surface sediments than those found for the same metallic elements in previous recent studies at Lévrier Bay, which may be due to anthropogenic pressure in these areas. , especially since the different sites of the Bay are deprived of any sanitation system. In addition, the levels of these metals in the sediments of Lévrier Bay are below the international standards recommended for the toxicity assessment of sediments.

Physico-Chemical And Microbiological Pollution Of Industrial Wastewater From Levrier Bay In Mauritania

“…In addition, (Zamel et al, 2010) showed that 75,632 cubic meters of wastewater are discharged into the bay every day, including 3 cubic meters of oily water and 51,755 tons of solid waste, which is a major source of harmful pollution to the bay environment. Cheikh et al (2020) showed that Levrier Bay suffers from untreated wastewater discharges from fishmeal plants.…”