Heavy metal concentrations in different sediments fractions and depths from Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina),

BUZZI NATALIA; MARTINEZ, MARÍA VICTORIA; GARCÍA FABIÁN; BOTTÉ SANDRA; JORGE E. MARCOVECCHIO

Congreso; The Changing Coastal and Estuarine Environment: A Comparative Approach; 2012

Estuaries and coastal zones, together with their corresponding wetlands, usually act as sinks of land materials−including pollutants−from agricultural, industrial and urban origins. Aquatic environments are increasingly being contaminated with different kinds of organic and inorganic pollutants. Tidal flats are very extensive in the Bahía Blanca Estuary, and the granulometry of their sediments varied along the system, being principally silt-clay in the inner part (more than 90%): fine sediments are generally accepted to accumulate higher contaminants levels. The semiterrestrial burrowing crab Neohelice granulata (Brachyura, Varunidae) is an eurihaline species widely distributed along the Atlantic coast of South America from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to Patagonia (Argentina). These crabs are omnivorous and detritivorous, feeding from sediments and are perfectly adapted to aquatic or terrestrial habitats. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of some heavy metals in different sediments fractions from different depths, collected in the inner zone of Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina) and finally to analyze their relation with the levels of these pollutant in the hepatopancreas and gills of Neohelice granulata. The metals (cadmium, zinc, copper, chromium, lead and nickel) present in both fractions, >63 µm and