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Distribution and evolution of sterols and aliphatic hydrocarbons in dated marine sediment cores from the Cabo Frio upwelling region, SW Atlantic, Brazil

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Abstract

We report the distribution of selected lipid biomarkers specifically sterols and aliphatic hydrocarbons in sediment cores from Cabo Frio, SW Atlantic continental shelf, Brazil, corresponding approximately to the last 700 years. In the Cabo Frio region, a costal upwelling occurs as a quasi-seasonal phenomenon characterized by nutrient-rich bottom waters that intrude on the continental shelf and promote relatively high biological productivity compared to other Brazilian continental shelf areas. The results for sterols indicate the predominance of organic matter (OM) inputs related to marine organisms, mainly plankton, in all of the cores along the time scale studied. Principal component analyses show three different groups of variables, which may be associated with (i) the more effective intrusion of the nutrient-rich South Atlantic Central Water, resulting in the increase of marine lipid biomarkers such as sterols and short-chain n-alkanes; (ii) the influence of the Coastal Water with higher surface water temperature and subsequently lower primary productivity; and (iii) OM characterized by high total organic carbon and long-chain n-alkanes related to an allochthonous source. Relatively high concentrations of sterols and n-alkanes between 1450 and 1700 AD, chronologically associated with the Little Ice Age, suggest a period associated with changes in the local input of specific sources of these compounds. The concentrations of lipid biomarkers vary over core depth, but this does not suggest a notably high or low intensity of upwelling processes. It is possible that the climatic and sea surface temperature changes reported in previous studies did not affect the input of the sedimentary lipid biomarkers analyzed here.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was obtained from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) grant (01/01098-7) and PRONEX/Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) grant (466031/2001-7). R.A. Lourenço thanks the CAPES for an MSc Scholarship. C.C. Martins thanks FAPESP for a PhD grant (01/10704-8). The authors would like to thank the crew of the R.V. Prof. W. Besnard for collecting samples and the staff of Laboratório de Química Orgânica Marinha for suggestions that helped to improve this report. We thank the staff of the Laboratório de Sedimentação Marinha for the grain size and organic matter components and Dr. Preeti Kaur for the English grammar revision. We thank the six anonymous reviewers for constructive comments, which substantially improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Oceanográfico da Universidade de São Paulo (IO/USP), Praça do Oceanográfico191, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil

    Rafael André Lourenço, César C. Martins, Satie Taniguchi, Michel Michaelovitch Mahiques, Rosalinda Carmela Montone, Caio Augusto Magalhães & Márcia Caruso Bícego

  2. Centro de Estudos do Mar da Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 61, 83255-976, Pontal do Sul, Pontal do Paraná, PR, Brazil

    César C. Martins

  3. Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), Av. Fernando Ferrari, 514, Vitória, ES, 29075-910, Brazil

    Caio Augusto Magalhães

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  1. Rafael André Lourenço
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  2. César C. Martins
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  3. Satie Taniguchi
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  4. Michel Michaelovitch Mahiques
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  6. Caio Augusto Magalhães
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  7. Márcia Caruso Bícego
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Correspondence to Rafael André Lourenço.

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Responsible editor: Ester Heath

Highlights

• Lipids biomarkers were investigated in sediment cores from SE Atlantic.

• Relatively high concentrations of sterols and n-alkanes occurred between 1450 and 1700 AD.

• Variations in the biomarkers were not well related to changes in the upwelling system.

• Terrigenous OM input was important to distinguish the sites analyzed.

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Lourenço, R.A., Martins, C.C., Taniguchi, S. et al. Distribution and evolution of sterols and aliphatic hydrocarbons in dated marine sediment cores from the Cabo Frio upwelling region, SW Atlantic, Brazil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 19888–19901 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9657-2

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