Evaluation of the Environmental State of the Western Sector of Sepetiba Bay (Se Brazil): Trace Metal Contamination

Abstract

Sepetiba Bay located in Rio de Janeiro State (RJ), Southeast Brazil, is a region under heavy influence of seaports and mining. This feature puts at risk the quality of the local water system, especially due to the deposition of trace metals on the sediments. This work aimed to report the values of total concentrations of Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, Zn and Hg obtained in bottom surface sediments collected in Nov/2010 in the Western sector of Sepetiba Bay, through the Plasma Spectrometer (ICP-OES). The average concentrations of Ag (0.40 µg/g), Cd (0.76 µg/g), Cu (62.59 µg/g), Li (43.29 µg/g), Ni (16.65 µg/g), Pb (20.08 µg/g), Sr (389.64 µg/g) and Zn (184.2 µg/g) exceeded the limits allowed by Brazilian legislation, and are, in addition, above the natural values found in Ribeira Bay (RJ), the considered control region. It is necessary to monitor this area, due to its economic and environmental importance. AVALIAÇÃO DO ESTADO AMBIENTAL DO SETOR OCIDENTAL DA BAÍA DE SEPETIBA (SE BRASIL): CONTAMINAÇÃO POR METAIS TRACEResumoA Baía de Sepetiba localizada no Estado do Rio de Janeiro (RJ), sudeste do Brasil, é uma região sob forte influência de portos marítimos e mineração. Esta característica coloca em risco a qualidade do sistema de água local, especialmente devido à deposição de metais traço nos sedimentos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo reportar os valores das concentrações totais de Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, U e Zn obtidos em sedimentos de superfície de fundo coletados em Nov / 2010 no Setor Oeste da Baía de Sepetiba, através do Espectrômetro de Plasma (ICP-OES). As concentrações médias de Ag (0,40 µg / g), Cd (0,76 µg / g), Cu (62,59 µg / g), Li (43,29 µg / g), Ni (16,65 µg / g), Pb (20,08 µg / g ), Sr (389,64 µg / g) e Zn (184,2 µg / g) ultrapassaram os limites permitidos pela legislação brasileira, e estão, além disso, acima dos valores naturais encontrados na Baía da Ribeira (RJ), a região de controle considerada. É necessário monitorar esta área, devido à sua importância econômica e ambiental. Palavras-chave: Total Trace Metals. Sedimentos Litoral. Contaminação

Impact of Eutrophication on Benthic Foraminifera in Sepetiba Bay (Rio De Janeiro State, Se Brazil)

“…Due to the industrial development and urban centers, the region has become the second main wastewater recipient of the Rio de Janeiro State, greatly affecting the diversity of aquatic organisms and generating social-environmental problems (Melges-Figueiredo, 1999). In the social and public health context, it has been repeatedly impacted with sewage discharging from domestic and industrial sources, without treatment at some points and with questionable treatment in its majority and, therefore, has high concentration of heavy metals in water, sediments and living organisms (Pellegatti, 2000;Wasserman et al, 2001;Molisani et al, 2004;Ferreira, 2009;Rocha et al, 2010;Ferreira and Moreira, 2015;Díaz Morales et al, 2019).…”

“…Enrichment of chemical elements such as Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn exceeding the recommended limits by the Brazilian legislation and the natural values have been found in Sepetiba Bay, as a consequence of human, harbors and industrial activities, as well as dredging, which resuspend the sediments and contribute to the reintroduction of metals in the water column (e.g. Silva-Filho et al, 1996;Wasserman et al, 2001;Patchineelam et al, 2011;Díaz Morales et al, 2019).…”

Anthropogenic Impacts on the Western Sector of Sepetiba Bay (Se Do Brazil) Accessed by the Pb Isotope Composition of Surface Sediments

“…Sepetiba Bay receives contamination from several sources (Wasserman et al, 2001;Molisani et al, 2004;Pellegatti et al, 2007;Ferreira, 2009;Rocha et al, 2010;Patchineelam et al, 2011;Ferreira and Moreira, 2015;Díaz Morales et al, 2019), which cause problems for living organisms and the ecosystem (Ferreira and Horta, 2010;Miranda Filho et al, 2011;Ferreira, 2011). Thus, it is difficult to identify and discriminate specific sources of contamination.…”

“…The analysis of trace metal concentrations is an efficient tool for the diagnosis of the environmental quality, but does not allow the identification of sources of pollution in different zones of this bay (Díaz Morales et al, 2019). However, it is possible to obtain isotope signatures of a site, through the determination of Pb stable isotopes ratios, which can be compared to the signatures of possible sources of pollution (Bollhöfer and Rosman, 2000;Pellegatti, 2000).…”

Sources of Pollutants in the Northern/Northeast Area of Guanabara Bay (Se, Brazil) Since the Late Nineteenth Century Using Lead Isotopes and Metal Concentrations

“…It is therefore used as a reference for the standardization of other isotopes of this element 2016; Laut et al, 2016Laut et al, , 2019Dias et al, 2017;Alves Martins et al, 2018;Pregnolato et al, 2018). These materials have great affinity to heavy metals (Alves Martins 2015;Martins et al, 2015Martins et al, , 2017Suzuki et al, 2016;Zaaboub et al, 2016;Díaz Morales et al, 2019b) and can provide temporal information regarding the beginning of anthropic influence in the environment (Vilela et al, 2014;Bueno et al, 2019), which is one of the objectives of this research. Ferrand et al (1999), analyzing stable isotopes of lead in 24 cores (0-50 cm) of several transects in the Gulf of Lion (France), observed that lead concentrations (23-85 ppm) and isotopic signatures 206 Pb/ 207 Pb (1.174 -1.188) in the surface sediments, clearly evidenced the impact of polluting lead, which contributed for 22-80% of the lead accumulated in the first centimeter of the sediments in the studied sites.…”