Historical economic and environmental policies influencing trace metal inputs in Montevideo Bay, Río de la Plata

Montevideo Bay is located in the middle zone of the Rio de la Plata, and since the foundation of the city, several key economic and environmental policies affected the industry, and thus, metal inputs into this ecosystem. The aim of this study is to evaluate the sedimentary geochemical record of Mon...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2016-12, Vol.113 (1-2), p.141-146
Main Authors: Bueno, C., Brugnoli, E., Figueira, R.C.L., Muniz, P., Ferreira, P.A.L., García Rodríguez, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bays - chemistry
Cities
Economic Development
Ecosystem
Environmental indicators
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Environmental Policy
Geologic Sediments - analysis
Geologic Sediments - chemistry
Industrial activities
Marine
Metal pollution
Metals, Heavy - analysis
Sediment core
Trace Elements - analysis
Uruguay
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Montevideo Bay is located in the middle zone of the Rio de la Plata, and since the foundation of the city, several key economic and environmental policies affected the industry, and thus, metal inputs into this ecosystem. The aim of this study is to evaluate the sedimentary geochemical record of Montevideo Bay, in order to determine the historical inputs of anthropogenic metals to the system. In addition, environmental and economic policies of the country were taken into account to infer the relationship between them and the historic metal input. Concentrations of aluminum, chromium, copper, lead, scandium and zinc were analyzed and the EF and SPI indices were calculated. The analysis showed that since Montevideo foundation, metal concentrations increased in accordance with industry development, and the indices as well as the metal concentration represent a reliable footprint of the history of different economic and environmental policies influencing historical industrial activities. •Trace metal record of a sediment core of Montevideo Bay/harbor was studied.•The historic inputs of metals in the area were inferred.•System degradation evolved from anthropogenic impacts.•A relationship between pollution and environmental/economic policies was discussed.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.08.082