Particulates and the environmental capacity for trace metals: A small river as a model for a land-sea transfer system: the Raša River estuary

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 155; no. 2; pp. 173 - 185
• Main Authors: Sondi, Ivan, Juračić, Mladen, Prohíć, Esad, Pravdić, Velimir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 14.10.1994; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Coastal oceanography, estuaries. Regional oceanography; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Environmental capacity; Estuary; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Hydrology; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; Particulates; Physics of the oceans; Trace metals; Particulates; Environmental capacity; Estuary; Trace metals; Pollutant; trace metals; Pollution; Flow rate; Hydrochemistry; Estuaries; metals; Rivers; particles; Sedimentation; Mass transfer; Heavy metal
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/0048-9697(94)90290-9

The paper deals with the role of particulates in the transfer of trace metals from land to sea. In the mechanisms oriented research, small rivers and their estuaries fulfil a special role by enabling identification of single processes and single transport mechanisms of general relevance to global land-sea interaction. In big rivers the complexity and the overlapping influences often prevent identification of these. Laboratory experiments often defy natural conditions. Small rivers, originating from identifiable and often unique geological regions, with a limited number of anthropogenic activities loading their watersheds, offer a real-life model system for studies of physical and physicochemical processes. The result of field work in the Raša River (Croatian Adriatic) karstic estuary and corollary laboratory experiments have shown the sedimentation pattern with the prevalent accumulation of terrigenous material in the upper estuary. The results indicate that trace metals are either of prevalently natural origin (Cr, Ti, Cd) or anthropogenically superimposed (Cu, Pb, Zn). However, most of the heavy metals accumulate in the proximity of the river mouth due to adsorption to clay minerals. Only Zn concentrations in estuarine sediments indicate its higher mobility and further transport. The results of this investigation should help in understanding the ultimate environmental capacity of the estuary and the adjacent coastal region.