Abstract
Since the 1970s the highly industrialised and enclosed Augusta Bay (Sicily) has become internationally recognized as a polluted environment that could represent a hazard to human health. The pollutant of greatest concern, derived from a former chlor-alkali plant, is mercury that exists beyond Intervention Levels in parts of the harbour. The affected areas are also contaminated by other heavy metals and organic compounds (PAHs and PCBs) that were mainly discharged from co-located petrochemical industries. Several previous investigations established the magnitude of particular contaminants in sediments and evaluated the impact of the pollution on a range of biota. The current study, which represented part of a larger project managed by the Italian Environmental Research Institute ISPRA, was concerned with investigating a series of cores collected across the harbour area to establish reliable pollution chronologies based on elemental and radiochronological (137Cs) profiles. The declared motivation for the main project was to acquire scientific evidence that could be used to support a legal investigation against the industries that caused the pollution and who could potentially be expected to contribute to remediation costs. Undisturbed cores were collected from the northern (mildly polluted), central (significantly polluted) and southern (strongly polluted) parts of the Bay using available bathymetric data to avoid areas affected by dredging. The study has demonstrated the value of using an automatic, X-ray sediment core scanner (Itrax) to acquire high-resolution geochemical data. The Itrax provided a non-destructive, sensitive and rapid capability to systematically analyse a broad range of major and trace elements. One of the collected cores of this study, taken from the most polluted site, provided more than 20 continuous elemental profiles with depth (e.g. Ti, S, Ca, K, Mn, Fe, Cr, V, Ba, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr, Zr, Hg, Se, Mo). The Itrax data quality were validated against a dataset acquired using a conventional WD-XRF instrument and both sets of profiles are demonstrated to be consistent. This ability of the Itrax to automatically scan cores over a significantly shorter time compared to conventional laboratory methods (days compared to weeks) confirms its potential in contributing to environmental forensic studies. Its additional ability to simultaneously record a radiographic image (and radiographic digital profile) provides a link between sediment layering (density variations linked to mineralogy) and elemental composition.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anirudh R, Rokade MA, Zingde MD, Borole DV (2009) Post-depositional memory record of mercury in sediment near the effluent disposal site of a chloralkali plant in Thane Creek–Mumbai Harbour, India. Environ Technol 30:765–783
Anonymous (1992) Sistema integrato per il monitoraggio automatico della rada di Augusta. I-Studi preliminari per il posizionamento di boe oceanografiche. Istituto Sperimentale Talassografico CNR Messina. Rapporti 6:1–120
Anonymous (1995) Studio sedimentologico e bionomico dei fondi mobili della Rada di Augusta. Istituto Sperimentale Talassografico CNR Messina. Rapporti 9:1–72
Appleby P, Oldfield F (1992) Application of lead-210 to sedimentation studies. In: Ivanovich M, Harmon RS (eds) Uranium-series disequilibrium: applications to earth, marine, and environmental science. Oxford University Press, pp 731–738
Ausili A, Gabellini M, Cammarata G, Fattorini D, Benedetti M, Pisanelli B, Gorbi S, Regoli F (2008) Ecotoxicological and human health risk in a petrochemical district of southern Italy. Mar Environ Res 66:215–217
Ausili A, Cappucci S, Gabellini M, Innocenti C, Maffucci M, Romano E, Rossi L, Taramelli A (2012) New approaches for multi source data sediment characterisation, thickness assessment and clean-up strategies. Chem Eng Trans 28:223–228
Bellucci LG, Giuliani S, Romano S, Albertazzi S, Mugnai C, Frignani M (2012) An integrated approach to the assessment of pollutant delivery chronologies to impacted areas: Hg in the Augusta Bay (Italy). Environ Sci Technol 46:2040–2046
Bergamin L, Romano E, Finoia MG, Venti F, Bianchi J, Colasanti A, Ausili A (2009) Benthic foraminifera from the coastal zone of Baia (Naples, Italy): assemblage distribution and modification as tools for environmental characterisation. Mar Pollut Bull 59:234–244
Bianchi F, Bianca S, Linzalone N, Madeddu A (2004) Sorveglianza delle malattie congenite in Italia: un approfondimento nella provincia di Siracusa. Epidemiol Prev 28:87–93
Bonsignore M, Salvagio D, Manta E, Oliveri M, Sprovieri M, Basilone G, Bonanno A, Falco F, Traina A, Mazzola S (2013) Mercury in fishes from Augusta Bay (southern Italy): risk assessment and health implication. Food Chem Toxicol 56:184–194
Castagna A, Sinatra F, Castagna G, Stoli A, Zafarana S (1985) Trace element evaluations in marine organisms. Mar Pollut Bull 16:416–419
Cearreta A, Ulibarra I, Irabien MJ, Yusta L, Leorri E, Croudace IW, Cundy AB (2002) Recent salt marsh development and natural regeneration of reclaimed areas in the Plentzia estuary, N. Spain. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 54:863–886
Celia Magno M, Bergamin L, Finoia MG, Pierfranceschi G, Venti F, Romano E (2012) Correlation between textural characteristics of marine sediments and benthic foraminifera in highly anthropogenically-altered coastal areas. Mar Geol 315–318:143–161
Cernigliaro A, Addario SP, Nicolotti N (2008) Research on the health state of the Sicilian population living in areas at environmental or natural risk: the experience of the Regional Department of Epidemiology. Ital J Public Health 5:80–85
Clarkson T (1997) The toxicology of mercury. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci 34:369–403
Covelli S, Faganeli J, Horvat M, Brambati A (2001) Mercury contamination of coastal sediments as the result of long-term cinnabar mining activity (Gulf of Trieste, northern Adriatic sea). Appl Geochem 16:541–558
Covelli S, Acquavita A, Piani R, Predonzani S, De Vittor C (2009) Recent contamination of mercury in an estuarine environment (Marano lagoon, Northern Adriatic, Italy). Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 82:273–284
Covelli S, Emili A, Acquavita A, Dinelli E, Koron N, Faganeli J (2010) Benthic fluxes measurement of mercury and methylmercury in Pialassa Baiona (Ravenna, Italy). Int J Environ Qual (EQA) 3:33–40
Croudace IW, Cundy AB (1995) A record of heavy metal pollution in recent sediments from Southampton Water, Southern England: a geochemical and isotopic study. Environ Sci Technol 29:1288–1296
Croudace IW, Rothwell RG (2015) Future developments and innovations in high-resolution core scanning in IW Croudace. In: Rothwell RG (ed) Micro-XRF studies of sediment cores. Springer, Netherlands
Croudace IW, Rindby A, Rothwell RG (2006) Itrax: description and evaluation of a new sediment core scanner. In: Rothwell RG (ed) New techniques in sediment core analysis. Geol Soc Spec Publ, London, 267:51–63
Croudace IW, Warwick PE, Morris JE (2012) Evidence for the preservation of technogenic tritiated organic compounds in an estuarine sedimentary environment. Environ Sci Technol 46:5704–5712
Cundy AB, Collins PEF, Turner SD, Croudace IWC, Horne D (1998) 100 years of environmental change in a coastal wetland. Augusta Bay, southeast Sicily: evidence from geochemical and palaeoecological studies. Geolog Soc Lond Spec Publ 139:243–254
Cundy AB, Croudace IW, Cearreta A, Irabien MJ (2003) Reconstructing historical trends in metal input in heavily-disturbed, contaminated estuaries: studies from Bilbao, Southampton Water and Sicily. Appl Geochem 18:311–32
Di Leonardo R, Bellanca A, Capotondi L, Cundy A, Neri R (2006) Possible impacts of Hg and PAH contamination on benthic foraminiferal assemblages: an example from the Sicilian coast, central Mediterranean. Sci Total Environ 388:168–183
Di Leonardo R, Adelfio G, Bellanca A, Chiodi M, Mazzola S (2014) Analysis and assessment of trace element contamination in offshore sediments of the Augusta Bay (SE Sicily): a multivariate statistical approach based on canonical correlation analysis and mixture density estimation approach. J Sea Res 85:428–442
Govindaraju K (1994) Compilation of working values and sample description for 383 geostandards. Geostand Newsl 18:1–158
Guerriero C, Bianchi F, Cairns J, Cori L (2011) Policies to clean-up toxic industrial contaminated sites of Gela and Priolo: a cost-benefit analysis. Environ Health 10:68 (Open Access)
Hagemann S (2009) GRS—252 Oktober 2009 Gesellschaft für Anlagen und Reaktor sicherheit (GRS), GmbH. GRS—252 ISBN 978-3-939355-27-4. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pdf/pp_mercury7.pdf. Accessed Sept 2013
Hester RE, Harrison RM (eds) (2008) Environmental forensics. Issues in Environmental Science and Technology. RSC Publ, London, pp 190
ICRAM (2008) Progetto preliminare di bonifica della rada di Augusta inclusa nel sito di bonifica di interesse nazionale di Priolo Fase I e Fase II. Report. BoI-Pr-SI-PR-Rada di Augusta-03.22, Internal Report
Lemly AD (2002) Selenium assessment in aquatic ecosystems: a guide for hazard evaluation and water quality criteria. Springer, New York
Lepland A, Andersen TJ, Lepland A, Arp HP, Alve E, Breedveld GD, Rindby A (2010) Sedimentation and chronology of heavy metal pollution in Oslo harbour, Norway. Mar Pollut Bull 60:1512–1522
Maggi C, Berducci MT, Bianchi J, Giani M, Campanella L (2009) Methylmercury determination in marine sediment and organisms by direct mercury analyser. Anal Chim Acta 641:32–36
Miller H, Croudace IW, Bull JM, Cotterill JC, Dix JK, Taylor RN (2014) A 500 year sediment lake record of anthropogenic and natural inputs to Windermere (English Lake District) using double-spike lead isotopes, radiochronology, and sediment microanalysis. Environ Sci Technol 48:7254–7263
Miller H, Croudace IW, Bull JM, Cotterill CJ, Taylor RN (2015) Modern pollution signals in sediments from Windermere, NW England, determined by micro-XRF and lead isotope analysis, In: Croudace IW, Rothwell RG (eds) Micro-XRF studies of sediment cores. Springer, Netherlands
Nigro F, Renda P (2000) Un modello di evoluzione tettono-sedimentaria dell’avanfossa neogenica Siciliana. Boll Soc Geol Ital 119:667–686
Piani R, Covelli S, Biester H (2005) Mercury contamination in Marano Lagoon (Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy): source identification by analyses of Hg phases. Appl Geochem 20:546–1559
Raldúa D, DÃez S, Bayona JM, Barceló D (2007) Mercury levels and liver pathology in feral fish living in the vicinity of a mercury cell chlor-alkali factory. Chemosphere 66:1217–1225
Ritchie JC, McHenry JR (1990) Application of radioactive fallout cesium-137 for measuring soil erosion and sediment accumulation rates and patterns: a review. J Environ Qual 19:215–233
Rojas-RodrÃguez AD, Flores-Fajardo O, González FSA, Castillo NNL, Gómez MJC (2012) Chemical treatment to recover molybdenum and vanadium from spent heavy gasoil hydrodesulfurization catalyst. Adv Chem Eng Sci 2:408–412
Rollinson HR (1993) Using geochemical data: evaluation, presentation, interpretation. Pearson Harlow, Longman
Romano E, Bergamin L, Ausili A, Pierfranceschi G, Maggi C, Sesta G, Gabellini M (2009a) The impact of the Bagnoli industrial site (Naples, Italy) on sea-bottom environment. Chemical and textural features of sediments an the related response of benthic foraminifera. Mar Pollut Bull 59:244–255
Romano E, Bergamin L, Finoia MG, Celia Magno M, Ausili A, Gabellini M (2009b) The effects of human impact on benthic foraminifera in the Augusta harbour (Sicily, Italy), In: Dahl E, Moksness E, Støttrup, J (eds), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Integrated Coastal Zone Management. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, pp 97–115
Romano E, Bergamin L, Celia Magno M, Ausili A (2013) Sediment characterization of the highly impacted Augusta harbour (Sicily, Italy): modern benthic foraminifera in relation to grain-size and sediment geochemistry. Environ Sci Process Impacts 15:930–946
Sciacca S, Fallico R (1978) Presenza e concentrazione di sostanze inquinanti di origine industriale nella Rada di Augusta (Siracusa). Inquinamento 20(6):33–38
Scicchitano G, Monaco C, Tortorici L (2007) Large boulder deposits by tsunami waves along the Ionian coast of south-eastern Sicily (Italy). Mar Geol 238:75–91
Sedivy VM (2009) Environmental balance of salt production speaks in favour of solar saltworks. Glob NEST J 11:41–48
Sprovieri M, Oliveri E, Di Leonardo R, Romano E, Ausili A, Gabellini M, Barra M, Tranchida G, Bellanca A, Neri R, Budillon F, Saggiomo R, Mazzola S, Saggiomo V (2011) The key role played by the Augusta basin (southern Italy) in the mercury contamination of the Mediterranean Sea. J Environ Monit 13:1753–1760
Thomson J, Higgs NC, Croudace IW, Colley S, Hydes DJ (1993) Zonation of redox-sensitive elements at the oxic/post-oxic interface in deep-sea sediments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 57:579–595
Tomiyasu T, Matsuyama A, Eguchi T, Fuchigami Y, Oki K, Horvat M (2006) Spatial variations of mercury in sediment of Minamata Bay, Japan. Sci Total Environ 368:283–290
WHO (2012) Biomonitoring-based indicators of exposure to chemical pollutants. Report of a meeting Catania, Italy, 19–20 April 2012, WHO Report (Europe), Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Croudace, I., Romano, E., Ausili, A., Bergamin, L., Rothwell, R. (2015). X-Ray Core Scanners as an Environmental Forensics Tool: A Case Study of Polluted Harbour Sediment (Augusta Bay, Sicily). In: Croudace, I., Rothwell, R. (eds) Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9849-5_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9849-5_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9848-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9849-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)