Abstract
Evros River is the most important river flowing into the North Aegean Sea (eastern Mediterranean) in terms of freshwater discharge, and the second largest one of Eastern Europe after the Danube River. Salinity and temperature measurements, together with suspended particulate matter concentrations were obtained in various depths at 14 stations in the adjacent Alexandroupolis Gulf during four seasons (June 1998, September 1998, February 1999 and March 2000) in order to investigate the particle dynamics and distributions in the northern Aegean Sea. Analysis of the collected data, together with particle observations under the scanning electron microscope and study of satellite images showed that, under certain circumstances driven by the hydrological and wind regime of the area, the Evros River particulate matter, with the associated pollutants, can be transferred far away from the estuary and implicitly comprise a hazardous factor for the environmental status of the northern Aegean Sea. This fact, combined with the future construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, may cause a negative impact on the studied natural ecosystem.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the captain, officers and crew of the research vessel “AEGAEO”. Thanks are also due to Mrs. Maria Taxiarchi, Mrs. Georgia Kabouri and Mr. George Pappas (Hellenic Centre for Marine Research) who provided laboratory assistance. Many thanks are also due to Dr. Ioannis Panagiotopoulos (HCMR) and the anonymous reviewers for their comments in the completion of the manuscript.
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Kanellopoulos, T.D., Angelidis, M.O., Georgopoulos, D. et al. Fate of the Evros River suspended particulate matter in the northern Aegean Sea. Environ Geol 57, 1729–1738 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1454-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1454-2