Premium
Sediments and Pollution in the Northern Adriatic Sea a
Author(s) -
FRASCARI F.,
FRIGNANI M.,
GUERZONI S.,
RAVAIOLI M.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1988.tb30191.x
Subject(s) - pollution , environmental science , geology , oceanography , geography , ecology , biology
Most pollutants are known to have a strong tendency to interact with suspended organic and inorganic matter. Under certain conditions, the sediments may form deposits, where the substances are stored and/or mineralized and removed from the external environment. Various phenomena may, however, promote a pollutant release from the sediment towards the overlying waters. Molecular diffusion, bioturbation, resuspension of bottom sediment and pumping due to low-intensity wave motion are phenomena that cause the transport of chemical species through the water-sediment interface. The constituents that are mostly involved in these fluxes are the ones dissolved in the interstitial waters and those weakly linked to the solid. The fine mineral or flocculated sediments, which rapidly settle in the riverine prodelta,24 are the richest ones in easily exchangeable pollutants. On the other hand, the solid matter which sediments after a long transport attains a more stable equilibrium with the pollutants which are dissolved in the waters. The study of the sedimentation and transport processes of the particulate matter and associated pollutants is of great importance to understand the evolution of the marine environmental quality.