title: Application of empirical model to predict background metal concentration in mixed carbonate-alumosilicate sediment (Adriatic Sea, Croatia).
abstract: A 96m long sediment core (S10-33) from the Mali Ston Channel (Adriatic Sea) showed large natural variation in carbonate share (between 1% and 95%) and concentration of elements. These variations indicate rather significant changes in fine-grained sediment that was deposited in this area during Younger Pleistocene and Holocene. Unaffected by anthropogenic influence, sediment in the core was used to determine background concentration of trace elements in sediment with various carbonate content. Here we propose a method of the normalization of trace elements to carbonate share, in order to assess natural/background concentration of metals in sediments consisting of carbonates and alumosilicates in various proportions. Six characteristic metals (Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) that were normalized to carbonate share showed very good correlation, with much higher background concentrations in alumosilicate than in carbonate end member. Simple formulas were proposed to easily determine background concentration of these elements, in coastal and shelf depositional environments with mixed carbonate-alumosilicate sediments.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Department of Geology, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: igorfelja@geol.pmf.hr.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Felja
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Amelioration, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: mromic@agr.hr.
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romić
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Amelioration, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: dromic@agr.hr.
authors.forename: Davor
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Romić
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Amelioration, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: hbakic@agr.hr.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bakić
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Department of Geology, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: kpikelj@geol.pmf.hr.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pikelj
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Department of Geology, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: mjuracic@geol.pmf.hr.
authors.forename: Mladen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juračić
mesh_terms: D002254:Carbonates; D017523:Croatia; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D008956:Models, Chemical; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D002254:Carbonates; D008670:Metals; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014131:Trace Elements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Carbonate share; Element distribution; Mali Ston Channel; Natural variations