Large chocked lagoon as a barrier for river–sea flux of dissolved pollutants: Case study of the Azov Sea and the Black Sea

The Don River is among the largest rivers in the Eastern Europe and is heavily polluted. This river inflows into small and semi-isolated Sea of Azov, which is connected with the Black Sea by a narrow strait. Generally, the Sea of Azov is a large choked lagoon, which serves as a barrier for river-bor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2023-02, Vol.187, p.114496, Article 114496
Main Authors: Sedakov, Roman, Osadchiev, Alexander, Barnier, Bernard, Molines, Jean-Marc, Colombo, Pedro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity and Ecology
Black Sea
Choked lagoon
Earth Sciences
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Environmental Pollutants
Environmental Sciences
Oceanography
Pollution residence time
River-borne dissolved pollution
River-estuary-sea continuum
Rivers
Sciences of the Universe
Sea of Azov
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:The Don River is among the largest rivers in the Eastern Europe and is heavily polluted. This river inflows into small and semi-isolated Sea of Azov, which is connected with the Black Sea by a narrow strait. Generally, the Sea of Azov is a large choked lagoon, which serves as a barrier for river-borne constituents. Using numerical modeling, we reveal that presence of the choked lagoon significantly slows down the estuary-seawater flux of dissolved pollutants and slackens its discharge-induced seasonal variability. In particular, the Sea of Azov delays the 5 % and 95 % of the total flux of riverine pollution to the Black Sea by 9 and 36 months, respectively. The obtained results are important for assessment the influence of background and emergency pollution accidents at the Don River on water quality in the study region. Moreover, these results could be applied to many other chocked lagoons in the World Ocean. •The Sea of Azov is among the largest chocked lagoons in the World Ocean.•Choked lagoon significantly slows down exchange rate in river-estuary-sea continuum.•Choked lagoon slackens discharge-induced seasonal variability in water exchange.•The Sea of Azov delays the flux of riverine pollution to the Black Sea by 36 months.•Abrupt pollution accident in the Don River reaches the Black Sea in 9 months.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114496