Influence of an iron mine.pdfVIP

Available online at /locate/marpolbul Marine Pollution Bulletin 55 (2007) 459–468Total and labile metals in surface sediments of the tropical river-estuary system of Marabasco (Pacific coast of Mexico): Influence of an iron mine Ana Judith Marmolejo-Rodr??guez a,b,*, Ricardo Prego b, Alejandro Meyer-Willerer c, Evgueni Shumilin a, Antonio Cobelo-Garc??a b a Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, (IPN) La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico b Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, (CSIC), Vigo, Spain c Centro Universitario de Investigaciones Oceanolo?gicas, Universidad de Colima, Col., MexicoAbstract Marabasco is a tropical river-estuary system comprising the Marabasco river and the Barra de Navidad Lagoon. The river is impacted by the Pen?a Colorada iron mine, which produces 3.5 million tons of pellets per year. Thirteen surface sediment samples were collected in May 2005 (dry season) in order to establish background levels of Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the system and to ascertain the potential mobility of metals in the sediments. Analyses were carried out in the fraction finer than 63 lm, and labile metals extracted according the BCR procedure. Certified reference materials were used for validation of methods. Total concentrations of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were in the range of 0.05–0.34, 6–95, 0.7–31, 9–26, 2–18, and 53–179 mg kg1, respectively; Al and Fe ranges of 24–127, and 26–69 mg g1 correspondingly. Cadmium was found to be significantly labile in the sed- iments (20–100%), followed by Co (0–35%), Ni (3–16%) and Zn (0–25%), whereas the labile fraction for Cu, Fe and Pb was almost neg- ligible (4%). According with the total metal concentrations, background levels and normalised enrichment factors (NEF) of the metals studied, the impact of the Pen?a Colorada iron mine on the Marabasco system is lower than expected when compared with other similar World sys- tems influenced by mining activities.  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Metals;