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A critical evaluation of using bulk sediment instead of fine fraction in environmental marine studies, investigated on example of Rijeka harbor, Croatia

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Abstract

This work tested the preferential use of fine (<63 μm) or bulk sediment (<2 mm) in environmental research of marine sediments in the Eastern Adriatic. Fine fraction sediment containing silt and clay (<63 μm), predominating in the studied area, was examined to evaluate past and present anthropogenic inputs and to test our hypothesis that investigation of bulk sediment should be preferred. Following aqua regia digestion, chemical analyses of 58 elements were performed by ICP/OES, ICP-MS and cold vapor AAS, and statistical analysis was performed. The concentrations of the majority of the analyzed elements increased with age of the sediment, except for Ag and Sn, which had higher concentrations in recent sediments. The previous main sources of metal contamination in Rijeka harbor were now abandoned municipal-sewage outflow and oil refinery, and continuing harbor activities and antifouling paint use. All activities except of antifouling paint use have been decreasing significantly. Anomalies of selected elements were determined by the box-plot method. More anomalies were found in the bulk sediment than in the fine fraction. Results of Q-modality clustering and factor analysis in the fine fraction almost correlate with that applied on bulk sediments. Thus, it can be said that the differences between the element distribution in the bulk and fine fraction are not statistically significant. Our conclusion is that analysis of bulk marine sediment gives a better insight into the state of pollution and supports previous recommendations to use bulk sediment as a chosen media for environmental studies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Port of Rijeka Authority and Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, under Projects 098-0982934-2720, “Interactions of trace metals in aquatic environment” is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Ivan Grabar for assistance with sampling and samples preparations. Special thanks go to Renée E. Bishop, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology from Penn State Worthington Scranton and Kristopher Gibbon-Walsh, PhD from Laboratory PROTEE, Universite du Sud Toulon, France, who edited the English language of the manuscript. We are also very thankful to Dr. Amir Sandler from the Geological Survey of Israel, whose work inspired us to perform this study. He was also so kind and helped us a lot to improve the quality of this paper by performing an unofficial prereview prior to submission.

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  1. Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička 54, Zagreb, Croatia

    Stanislav Frančišković-Bilinski & Neven Cukrov

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  1. Stanislav Frančišković-Bilinski
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  2. Neven Cukrov
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Correspondence to Stanislav Frančišković-Bilinski.

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Frančišković-Bilinski, S., Cukrov, N. A critical evaluation of using bulk sediment instead of fine fraction in environmental marine studies, investigated on example of Rijeka harbor, Croatia. Environ Earth Sci 71, 341–356 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2437-5

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