Spatiotemporal profile and ecological impacts of major and trace elements in surface sediments of marginal seas of the Arctic and Northern Pacific Oceans

Azhar Rashid; Chao Fang; Dan Qin; Yusheng Zhang; François Nkinahamira; Jun Bo; Qian Sun

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115702

Spatiotemporal profile and ecological impacts of major and trace elements in surface sediments of marginal seas of the Arctic and Northern Pacific Oceans

Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Dec:197:115702. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115702. Epub 2023 Oct 31.

Authors

Azhar Rashid¹, Chao Fang², Dan Qin³, Yusheng Zhang², François Nkinahamira⁴, Jun Bo⁵, Qian Sun⁴

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Haripur, Haripur 22620, Pakistan.
² MNR Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen 361005, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: dqin@iue.ac.cn.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
⁵ MNR Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen 361005, China. Electronic address: bojun@tio.org.cn.

PMID: 37918145
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115702

Abstract

The status and ecological impacts of sedimentary elements of the marginal seas of Arctic and Northern Pacific Oceans was investigated during 2016 to 2018 by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Industrial (0.006 mg kg^-1-64.6 g kg^-1), precious (0.003-43.8 mg kg^-1), rare earth (0.006-112.9 mg kg^-1), and heavy metal (0.009-398.9 mg kg^-1) elements showed spatial variation, and temporal uniformity. The results indicated ΣREEs and light REEs enrichment compared to chondrite and heavy REEs, respectively, while nonsignificant positive and negative δCe and δEu anomalies existed, respectively. High contamination and extreme enrichment of priority control, industrial (As, Mo, Re, Sb), precious (Au, Ir, Pd, Pt, and Ru) and RE elements indicated potential moderate to high ecological and biological risks. The study highlighted the ecological importance and fragile nature of these ecosystems and calls for an urgent action to ensure sustainability of these ecosystems.

Keywords: Arctic and Northern Pacific oceans; Elements; Risk assessment; Surface sediments.

MeSH terms

Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Geologic Sediments / chemistry
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Oceans and Seas
Pacific Ocean
Trace Elements* / analysis

Substances

Trace Elements
Metals, Heavy