Avaliação das condições química e física dos sedimentos do estuário Jundiaí-Potengi

The aim of this study was to quantify the presence of major and minor elements in the sediments of the Jundiaí-Potengi estuary, bordering the municipalities of Macaíba, Natal and São Gonçalo do Amarante in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, considering the evidence of anthropic activity along this estuary, resulting in pollution by treated and untreated wastewaters as well as those produced by industry and shrimp farming. The assessment of the environmental status of this estuary was based on physical-chemical parameters, such as granulometry, organic matter and the major (Al, Fe, Mn and P) and minor (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) elements found in sediment samples. Two collections were made at 12 georeferenced points along the channel of the estuary at different times. Granulometric analysis was carried out and the percentage of organic matter was determined. The sediments were microwave digested using acid digestion and quantitative analyses of the elements Al, Fe, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, P, Pb and Zn were performed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Sediment analysis followed the methodology proposed by US EPA 3051A for total elements analysis. The small correlation between the organic matter and the elements studied here suggests that they are of geochemical rather than anthropic origin. The analytical results obtained from the bottom sediment samples in the study area show that the concentration of elements was below the reference values for standard shales (Turekian & Wedepohl, 1961) at the vast majority of points analyzed, ruling out a possible contamination by metals

Hidrocarbonetos policíclicos aromáticos no meio ambiente: diferenciação de fontes em sedimentos e metabólitos em bile de peixes

Many studies on environmental ecosystems quality related to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) have been carried out routinely due to their ubiquotus presence worldwide and to their potential toxicity after its biotransformation. PAH may be introduced into the environmet by natural and anthropogenic processes from direct runoff and discharges and indirect atmospheric deposition. Sources of naturally occurring PAHs include natural fires, natural oil seepage and recent biological or diagenetic processes. Anthropogenic sources of PAHs, acute or chronic, are combustion of organic matter (petroleum, coal, wood), waste and releases/spills of petroleum and derivatives (river runoff, sewage outfalls, maritime transport, pipelines). Besides the co-existence of multiples sources of PAH in the environmental samples, these compounds are subject to many processes that lead to geochemical fates (physical-chemical transformation, biodegradation and photo-oxidation), which leads to an alteration of their composition. All these facts make the identification of the hydrocarbons sources, if petrogenic, pyrolytic or natural, a challenge. One of the objectives of this study is to establish tools to identify the origin of hydrocarbons in environmental samples. PAH diagnostic ratios and PAH principal component analysis were tested on a critical area: Guanabara Bay sediments. Guanabara Bay is located in a complex urban area of Rio de Janeiro with a high anthropogenic influence, being an endpoint of chronic pollution from the Greater Rio and it was the scenario of an acute event of oil release in January 2000. It were quantified 38 compounds, parental and alkylated PAH, in 21 sediment samples collected in two surveys: 2000 and 2003. The PAH levels varied from 400 to 58439 ng g-1. Both tested techniques for origin identification of hydrocarbons have shown their applicability, being able to discriminate the PAH sources for the majority of the samples analysed. The bay sediments were separated into two big clusters: sediments with a clear pattern of petrogenic introduction of hydrocarbons (from intertidal area) and sediments with combustion characteristics (from subtidal region). Only a minority of the samples could not display a clear contribution of petrogenic or pyrolytic input. The diagnostic ratios that have exhibited high ability to distinguish combustion- and petroleum-derived PAH inputs for Guanabara Bay sediments were Phenanthrene+Anthracene/(Phenanthrene+Anthracene+C1Phenanthrene); Fluorantene/(Fluorantene+Pyrene); Σ (other 3-6 ring PAHs)/ Σ (5 alkylated PAH series). The PCA results prooved to be a useful tool for PAH source identification in the environment, corroborating the diagnostic indexes. In relation to the temporal evaluation carried out in this study, it was not verified significant changes on the class of predominant source of the samples. This result indicates that the hydrocarbons present in the Guanabara Bay sediments are mainly related to the long-term anthropogenic input and not directly related to acute events such as the oil spill of January 2000. This findings were similar to various international estuarine sites. Finally, this work had a complementary objective of evaluating the level of hydrocarbons exposure of the aquatic organisms of Guanabara Bay. It was a preliminary study in which a quantification of 12 individual biliar metabolites of PAH was performed in four demersal fish representing three different families. The analysed metabolites were 1-hydroxynaphtalene, 2-hidroxinaphtalene, 1hydroxyphenanthrene, 9-hydroxyphenanthrene, 2-hydroxyphenanthrene, 1hydroxypyrene, 3-hidroxibiphenil, 3- hydroxyphenanthrene, 1-hydroxychrysene, 9hydroxyfluorene, 4-hydroxyphenanthrene, 3-hydroxybenz(a)pyrene. The metabolites concentrations were found to be high, ranging from 13 to 177 µg g-1, however they were similar to worldwide regions under high anthropogenic input. Besides the metabolites established by the used protocol, it was possible to verified high concentrations of three other compounds not yet reported in the literature. They were related to pyrolytic PAH contribution to Guanabara Bay aquatic biota: 1-hydroxypyrine and 3-hydroxybenz(a)pyrine isomers

Alterações ambientais em Parelhas, Rio Grande do Norte: metais pesados em sedimentos de drenagens e percepção de comunidades rurais em relação a mudanças na paisagem

The conservation of natural resources is essential and constitutes the main subject of many researches, which characterize important aspects concerning the environmental alterations in the ground, water, landscape and socioeconomic information. This study aimed to investigate the anthropogenic input of heavy metals in the environment, in the area of the Parelhas dump site and in part of the Seridó River and to determine the concentration of heavy metals in the sediments. This can result in risk to the environment and human health. In addition, we sought to establish the socioeconomic profile of rural communities adjacent to Seridó River and to comprehend the perception of these dwellers about the changes in the places they live. The area of this study is located in the city of Parelhas/RN, in the centralsouthern part of the State, in the micro-region of the Oriental Seridó. This area comprehends the place where the dump site is located, next to RN 086, the Caldeirão dam, the Quintos river called by local citizens Caldeirão creek and part of Seridó river, perpetuated by the Boqueirão dam, which crosses the city and it includes the rural communities of Almas, Domingas, Sussuarana II and Colonos. Regarding the study with bottom sediments, the samples were collected and taken to the laboratory of geochemistry, where they were dried, sieved, weighted and submitted to weak acid attack. The analysis of heavy metals was held by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer - Flame AAS. We applied 23 closed questionnaires constituted by 38 questions to collect informations in the rural communities, oriented to establish the socioeconomic profile and the environmental perception of the participants. The participants were distributed in the communities of Almas (1), Domingas (2), Sussuarana II (10) and Colonos (10). Most of them presented similar socioeconomic profiles. They are from 45 to 60 years old and live in these localities for 20 to 30 years or more. The families are composed by 3 or 4 people; the agriculture is the main activity, livestock is the secondary and 48% of them earn the minimal wage. Regarding the environmental perception, the participants can realize some changes in vegetation, soil, water and landscape. People living longer in the community, and with more years of experience on the local reality can perceive the depletion of the soil, pastures and changes in the landscape. These changes portray how the place was previously and what it represents today. The perception of these changes, besides the environmental ones, includes others concerning the increasing number of dwellers in the last years, as well as the number of houses. The changes happened through activities developed by the dwellers over the years, including agricultural practices, livestock, grass planting and even the cultivation of cotton. The study provided the acquisition of new data about the environmental reality of this region. It can subsidize the definition of public policies that can be implemented from the perspective of conservation of water resources and of the coexistence and survival of man in the semi-arid

Metais pesados no caranguejo Ucides cordatus (Linnaeus, 1763) e ecotoxicologia de sedimentos do estuario dos Rios Jundiai e Potengi - RN

This study is conducted in the estuary of the rivers Jundiaí and Potengi, one of the most important estuaries of Rio Grande do Norte, which suffers a strong anthropogenic influence from neighboring cities. According to Resolution 344/2005 environments that have high concentrations of metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury need ecotoxicological tests. This study aims to evaluate the heavy metals contamination in the estuary through analysis of sediment collected at four points distributed from Macaíba to Natal city, and in the crab Uçá, Ucides cordatus. The study aims also to evaluate the effects of sediment toxicity in the tests organisms Leptocheirus plumulosus. To obtain data about the concentrations of heavy metals in the environment, sediments were collected in January and May 2011 and crab Uçá was collected in June 2011. On the other hand the monitoring was carried out through toxicological tests with sediment collected from July to October 2011. During the collection of sediment samples the physico-chemical parameters of water (dissolved oxygen, pH, chloride, turbidity, conductivity and temperature) were measured by using multi-parametric probe (TROLL 9500). It was possible to identify contamination by metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and copper both in the sediment and in the Uçá crab, which characterizes that the consumption of this crustacean may be a risk to human health. Once the concentrations of metals were identified, toxicology tests were performed and revealed toxic effect to organisms in at least one of the four months studied. Point 2 was classified as toxic in three of the four months studied . The heavy metal contamination is a risk to the environment, to aquatic organisms and to the community which survives of resources taken from the environment

Caracterização dos sedimentos superficiais de fundo do complexo recifal de Maracajaú

The study carried out in the environment of Maracajaú reef an São Roque channel, had as main objective to analyze the characteristics of sediments active locally expressed in the grains, through collections of sediments in the field, technical processing and data analyzes of sediments. Data processing were made on three main aspects: biotic composition, concentration of calcium carbonate and particle size of the sediment. Differences between the sediments of the reefs and channel were observed. It was emphasized the contribution of algae limestone in the production of carbonate, with some influence of foraminifera near the coast. The particle size distribution presented significant results for the understanding of locally sedimentary deposits. The results showed an environment of carbonate, with predominance of algae limestone, associated to unconsolidated sediments with gross granularity, besides the presence of rhodoliths in all samples.The fragmentation of biotic components and the prevalence of elliptical rhodoliths with little or no branch, indicate an environment of high energy hydrodynamics. This work is a further contribution to the understanding of sedimentology active locally in reef environments, in particular the of Maracajaú reef, by virtue of their complex ecosystem composed of a diversity of wild fauna and flora that still little studied in Brazil comparing to accelerated growth of teeth extractions and usufructs of natural resources causing often irreversible impacts to the environment

Isótopos de Nd na proveniência de rochas e sedimentos da bacia potiguar, ne do Brasil

Nd ISOTOPES IN THE PROVENANCE OF TERRIGENOUS AND CARBONATE ROCKS AND SEDIMENTS OF THE POTIGUAR BASIN, NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL. Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks from the Potiguar Basin, including terrigenous and carbonate sediments have been investigated to identify their isotopic signature and source areas. Additionally, this study aims to determine the provenance of terrigenous and carbonate sediments on the Brazilian Continental shelf adjacent to Potiguar Basin. The Sm-Nd isotopic signatures of the rocks yielded model ages (TDM) in the range of 2,19- 2,88 Ga, indicating archean to paleoproterozoic sources from the basement. The terrigenous sediments yielded model ages (TDM) in the range of 2,31-2,26 Ga, from 17,5 to 0 cm depth. Despite the small number of samples, limited variations of provenance ages indicates the homogenization of the sediments, probably due to the strong influence of the basement, as the main source of sediments to the shelf. The Sm-Nd isotopic signatures of the carbonate sediments yielded model ages (TDM) in the range of 2,09-2,61 Ga, indicating archean to paleoproterozoic sources from the basement. The results also indicate that the shelf sediments are mainly derived from the Açu River or other small rivers from the Setentrional Sector of Rio Grande do Norte State. The littoral drift doesn´t seem to contribute with sediments from the Oriental Sector since isotopic signatures from this sector were not detected.

Experimento de fluxo de sedimentos em um segmento de campo de dunas eólicas costeiras de Jenipabu - Litoral oriental do Rio Grande do Norte.

This study analyzed measurements of the aeolian transport using vertical sand traps across the field dunes of Jenipabu, in the municipality of Extremoz, Rio Grande do Norte state to the North of Natal city. These measurements were used as parameters for the sand aeolian transport in the region. Before the field trips a map of landscape units was made. Three visits to the field were done in September 2011 (field a - the 13th, field b - the 21st, field c - the 29th), period of the year with the highest wind speed, and another in December 8th, 2011 (field d ) when the wind speed starts to decrease. The sand traps used were of the type "I" with collecting opening of 25 cm from the surface level, and type "S" with collecting opening of 25 cm located 25 cm from the surface level in six collecting points in two of the visits (fields a and d ), and sand traps of the type "T" with the collecting opening of 50 cm from the surface level in the other field trips (fields "b" and "c"). A set of records was also collected by using a portable meteorological station complemented with information such as frequency and intensity of winds, precipitation and relative air humidity in the region, from the Estação Meteorológica de Natal , located 12 km from the study area. The sediments collected were treated and the data obtained permitted calculating the ratio of sediment transport. In September, the sedimentation ratio varied from 0.01 to 11.39 kg.m-1.h-1 and in December this ratio varied from 0.33 to 1.30 kg.m-1.h-1 in the type T collectors. In type I collectors they ranged from 0.01 to 11.39 kg.m-1.h-1, while the same parameters varied from 0.01 to 0.73 kg.m-1.h-1 in type S collector. Based on the statistical analysis done, we concluded that the sediment transport increased proportionally to the wind speed 25 cm from the surface. However, this is not true above 25 cm from the surface. The transport of sediments is more intense near the surface where sedimentation ratios greater than 10 kg.m-1.h-1 were found, whilst a maximum value of 3 kg.m-1.h-1 was observed 25 cm below the surface. The volume of sediments collected increases with the increasing wind speed at the surface level, whereas this relationship is opposed far away from that surface

Aplicação da resistividade e cargabilidade em estudos de contaminação de sedimentos por derivados de hidrocarbonetos

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Geoquímica e índice de geoacumulação de mercúrio em sedimentos de superfície do estuário de Santos - Cubatão (SP)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Variabilidade espacial e sazonal da concentração de elementos-traço em sedimentos do sistema estuarino de Santos-Cubatão (SP)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Distribuição de Cr, Ni, Cu, Cd e Pb em frações húmicas de diferentes tamanhos moleculares extraídas de amostras de água e de sedimentos do reservatório de captação de água superficial Anhumas - Araraquara-SP

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Distribuição do macrozoobentos na coluna vertical dos sedimentos da região estuarina de Cananéia (SP), Brasil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Circulação recente de sedimentos costeiros nas praias de santos durante eventos de tempestades: Dados para a gestão de impactos físicos costeiros

The beachs of Santos are situated in Santos Bay, central portion of paulista coast, in São Paulo state. This beachs are frequently affected by cold fronts with winds and currents from the South. These fronts are responsible for the removal and transport of sediments (sand) in Santos beaches. In order to quantify this sedimentation the channels of Santos were analysed, due to their function as box colectors of sediments during storm events. The channels are filled by sands, which volume in channels 1 to 6 was estimated, by using the length, width and height of sand sedimented in the channels, in the event of 22-27 april 2005. The chanels 2, 3 and 1 presented the larger volumes of sands, confirming that the central and SW portion of the beaches of Santos present higher levels of sedimentation or re-sedimentation. That is due to the transport by ocean waves and currents and currents from the Channel of the Port of Santos. This central portion suffer invasion of marine water over street and buildings, caracterizated of geological rise area.

Avaliação da remoção de sedimentos pela operação de nivelamento de estradas florestais

The forest roads construction inevitably causes environmental impacts to adjacent ecosystems and streams. Also the routine activities of roads maintenance may similarly cause environmental impacts of about the same magnitude. The material scraped from the roadway by the motor grader is usually distributed along the roadsides, from where it may easily be washed out toward the streams. Therefore, quantifying the amount of sediments removed during road maintenance activities may provide important information of this stream sedimentation potential. For this purpose, three forest roads were divided in 30 m long segments, marked with leveled stakes. A nylon thread was then stretched across the leveled stakes and the distance from the nylon thread to the road surface was measured before and after the mechanical scraping of the road. The average removal of sediments was of 2,13 cm. Considering the mean density of soil 1,6 g cm -3, the average removal of sediments was of 341 t ha -1 of road. Considering still a 3,9 m wide and 150 m long road as an example, the total amount of removed sediments would be around 19,9 t. Road maintenance, therefore, must be well planned in order to avoid or minimize stream sedimentation.

Variabilidade temporal no transporte de sedimentos no rio Ivaí - Paraná (1977-2007)

This paper evaluates the behavior of suspended sediment load of the river Ivaí over a period of 32 years measured by the station further downstream the river (Novo Porto Taquara). The most suitable parameters for this assessment were the annual discharge of suspended sediment and water obtained from SUDERSA. The relationship between the concentration of suspended sediment and discharge of water had not a very good correlation (R 2 = 0,56) and hysteresis effect is quite clear. The justification for this behavior is given by the heterogeneity of the hydrological regime and basin occupation. There were no significant changes in annual flows which have remained the same during the study period. Already the discharge of suspended sediment showed a small gradual decline in which the end of the period (2007), the river carries less than 0.65 Mton at the beginning (1977). This reduction in suspended sediment transported is probably due to changes in soil management for agriculture.