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Quality changes of fluvial sediments impacted by urban effluents in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, southernmost Patagonia

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Abstract

Bottom sediments play a fundamental role in the eutrophication process because they are one of the most active compartments in the biogeochemical cycle of nutrients. In Ushuaia city, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, sewage effluents have been discharged into natural watercourses without treatment for many years. Organic matter has been introduced until 2016 when improvements in sewage infrastructure were done. The quality of surface sediments from three watercourses with different degree of impact has been studied taking into account contrasting hydrological periods. pH, organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) were measured in austral autumn and spring between 2013 and 2018 in three sections of each watershed. Nutrient content in sediments of upstream sites derives from the contribution of Nothofagus spp. forests through litter-fall. Middle and downstream sites were the most affected by wastewater discharges evidencing that fluvial sediments act as a receptor of the allochthonous organic loads. Particularly, sediments of Buena Esperanza Stream had the lowest mean pH (5.44) and the highest mean concentrations of OC (42.95 mg g−1), TN (2.53 mg g−1) and SRP (0.067 mg g−1), along with the lowest mean annual flow and the largest urbanized area. No differences between hydrological periods were found, although TN and SRP contents were higher in autumn than in the snowmelt season. Minimal differences in nutrients between before and after infrastructure improvement were found. Even when external contributions have been decreased, more time will be necessary to reduce eutrophic conditions of fluvial sediments in southernmost Patagonia.

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Acknowledgements

S. Diodato acknowledges the postdoctoral Grant of CONICET, A. Gómez-Armesto acknowledges the predoctoral Grant of Xunta de Galicia (ED481A-2016/220) and M. Méndez-López acknowledges the predoctoral Grant FPU of Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (FPU17/05484). It is also recognized the financial support of Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2014-3123) granted to S. Diodato, and the Xunta de Galicia through the contract ED431C 2017/62-GRC granted to the research group BV1 of the University of Vigo. We want to specially thank Dra. Patricia Rodríguez and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC)-CONICET, Ushuaia, Argentina

    Soledad Diodato, Gabriela González Garraza, Romina Mansilla, Alicia Moretto & Julio Escobar

  2. Instituto de Ciencias Polares, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (ICPA), Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego (UNTDF), Ushuaia, Argentina

    Soledad Diodato, Gabriela González Garraza, Romina Mansilla & Alicia Moretto

  3. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Vigo, Ourense, Spain

    Melissa Méndez-López, Antía Gómez-Armesto & Juan Carlos Nóvoa-Muñoz

  4. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (IADO)-CONICET/UNS, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Jorge Marcovecchio

  5. Universidad FASTA, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Jorge Marcovecchio

  6. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN), Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Jorge Marcovecchio

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  1. Soledad Diodato
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Correspondence to Soledad Diodato.

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This article is a part of the Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on “Advances in Environmental Geochemistry” guest edited by Dr. Eleanor Carol, Dr. Lucia Santucci and Dr. Lia Botto.

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Diodato, S., González Garraza, G., Mansilla, R. et al. Quality changes of fluvial sediments impacted by urban effluents in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, southernmost Patagonia. Environ Earth Sci 79, 481 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09236-4

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