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Detecting environmental change in estuaries: Nutrient and heavy metal distributions in sediment cores in estuaries from the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea

Vaalgamaa, S and Conley, Daniel LU (2008) In Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 76(1). p.45-56
Abstract
Historical sediment nutrient concentrations and heavy metal distributions were studied in four estuaries in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea to examine the response of these estuaries to temporal changes in human activities. Cores were collected using a 1-m Mackereth corer and dated using Pb-210 and (CS)-C-137. The cores were analyzed for total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), organic phosphorus (OP), inorganic phosphorus (IP), biogenic silica (BSi), loss-on-ignition (LOI), Cu, Zn, Al, Fe, Mn, K, Ca, Mg and Na. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to summarize the trends in the chemical variables and to compare the trends at the different sites. Applying the 1986 Cs-137 date as a reference point, Pb-210... (More)
Historical sediment nutrient concentrations and heavy metal distributions were studied in four estuaries in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea to examine the response of these estuaries to temporal changes in human activities. Cores were collected using a 1-m Mackereth corer and dated using Pb-210 and (CS)-C-137. The cores were analyzed for total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), organic phosphorus (OP), inorganic phosphorus (IP), biogenic silica (BSi), loss-on-ignition (LOI), Cu, Zn, Al, Fe, Mn, K, Ca, Mg and Na. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to summarize the trends in the chemical variables and to compare the trends at the different sites. Applying the 1986 Cs-137 date as a reference point, Pb-210 chronologies were constructed for the sites using either the CRS model or a composite model (using both CIC and CRS). Significant increases were observed in sedimentation rates, TP and TN concentrations in all of the cores. Copper showed clear increases from 1850 towards present at all sites. Furthermore, redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to correlate environmental variables (catchment land use, catchment size, estuary surface area, depth and lake percentage) to sediment geochemistry. Based on redundancy analysis (RDA), the percentage of agriculture in the catchment was the most important factor affecting the sediment accumulation rate. Urban land-use types and industry correlate well with sediment Cu and Ca concentrations. Forest areas were related to high sediment BSi concentrations. Catchment land use was the most significant factor affecting sediment geochemical composition and sediment accumulation rates in these coastal embayments. Our results demonstrate that the coastal estuaries of the Gulf of Finland respond to the increased nutrient loading with the increased sedimentation and nutrient accumulation rates. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Baltic, Sea, sediment chronology, heavy metals, coastal sediments, nutrients
in
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
volume
76
issue
1
pages
45 - 56
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000252791800006
  • scopus:36849046804
ISSN
1096-0015
DOI
10.1016/j.ecss.2007.06.007
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
34b42590-ff8e-4d05-86b2-f6b189a08c0b (old id 1199162)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:56:24
date last changed
2022-04-28 22:17:37
@article{34b42590-ff8e-4d05-86b2-f6b189a08c0b,
  abstract     = {{Historical sediment nutrient concentrations and heavy metal distributions were studied in four estuaries in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea to examine the response of these estuaries to temporal changes in human activities. Cores were collected using a 1-m Mackereth corer and dated using Pb-210 and (CS)-C-137. The cores were analyzed for total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), organic phosphorus (OP), inorganic phosphorus (IP), biogenic silica (BSi), loss-on-ignition (LOI), Cu, Zn, Al, Fe, Mn, K, Ca, Mg and Na. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to summarize the trends in the chemical variables and to compare the trends at the different sites. Applying the 1986 Cs-137 date as a reference point, Pb-210 chronologies were constructed for the sites using either the CRS model or a composite model (using both CIC and CRS). Significant increases were observed in sedimentation rates, TP and TN concentrations in all of the cores. Copper showed clear increases from 1850 towards present at all sites. Furthermore, redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to correlate environmental variables (catchment land use, catchment size, estuary surface area, depth and lake percentage) to sediment geochemistry. Based on redundancy analysis (RDA), the percentage of agriculture in the catchment was the most important factor affecting the sediment accumulation rate. Urban land-use types and industry correlate well with sediment Cu and Ca concentrations. Forest areas were related to high sediment BSi concentrations. Catchment land use was the most significant factor affecting sediment geochemical composition and sediment accumulation rates in these coastal embayments. Our results demonstrate that the coastal estuaries of the Gulf of Finland respond to the increased nutrient loading with the increased sedimentation and nutrient accumulation rates.}},
  author       = {{Vaalgamaa, S and Conley, Daniel}},
  issn         = {{1096-0015}},
  keywords     = {{Baltic; Sea; sediment chronology; heavy metals; coastal sediments; nutrients}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{45--56}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science}},
  title        = {{Detecting environmental change in estuaries: Nutrient and heavy metal distributions in sediment cores in estuaries from the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2007.06.007}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ecss.2007.06.007}},
  volume       = {{76}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}