title: Urban activity and mercury contamination in estuarine and marine sediments (Southern Brazil).
abstract: The distribution of mercury in sediments of the Patos Lagoon estuary and nearby coastal marine deposits has been investigated for the period 1998-2008. Polluted urban soils and coastal reclamation fills are the principal sources of high mercury concentrations for shallow estuarine sediments. The shallow sediments that form near the urban area enter the navigation canal and are transported into the ocean. The mercury concentration in sediments of the navigation canal has considerably increased since 2004, due to intense reconstruction activity in the urban area. Periodic dredging of the canal strengthens the preconditions for coastal marine sediment contamination by mercury. However, this does not occur because the resuspended dredged sediments are significantly diluted by natural suspended particulate matter.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Marine Geology, Department of Geosciences, Fundação Universidade do Rio Grande, CP 474, Rio Grande, RS 96200-900, Brazil. dgeonmir@furg.br
authors.forename: Nicolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mirlean
authors.forename: Lauro
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calliari
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baisch
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Loitzenbauer
authors.forename: Evgueni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shumilin
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014507:Urbanization; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury