Pollutants and
Foraminiferal Assemblages
in Jobos Bay and Torrecilla
Lagoon: An Environmental
Micropaleontological
Approach
Michael Martínez-Colón
Introduction
OVER 50 YEARS IN THE MAKING…
1950
2000
Zalesny (1959)
Banerji (1992)
Watkins (1961)
Alve (1995)
Seiglie (1964, 1968) (PR)
Samir et al. (2001)
Seiglie (1971, 1975) (PR)
Le Cadre & Debenay(2006)
2
cont…
٤ Estuaries receive 80%-90% of all waste released to
marine environments, therefore are particularly
vulnerable to heavy metal pollution.
٤
Effects of pollutants:
water quality
diseases (flora/fauna)
ABNORMALITIES
reduced survival rates
INDIVIDUALS
ABUNDANCE
DIVERSITY
COMMUNITIES
DISTRIBUTION
human disease outbreaks
Why Jobos Bay (JB)?
*Sanitary/fluvial discharge and illegal dumps
*Raw sewage discharge
*Thermal pollution from Central Aguirre
*Dust
Work Published
Seguinot (2001)
Heavy Metals Found
Hg & Cu
Dumas & Montalvo (2003) Pb-Fe-Cu-Zn
Jimenez et al. (2003)
As-Pb-Cu-Fe-Ni-V-Cd
4
Why Laguna Torrecilla (TL)?
*Sanitary/fluvial discharge and illegal dumps
*Raw sewage discharge
*Backwash from PR-aqueduct and sewer
system
*Backwash Sergio Cuevas treatmentplant
Work Published
Webb et al. (1998)
Metals Found
As (17 ppm)
Hg (0.05 ppm)
Pb (20 ppm)
5
Purposes
To re-establish the use of foraminifera as
pollutant bio-indicators in Puerto Rico by
understanding their inter-relationship with
heavy-metals in sediments and in culture
experiments.
To provide a baseline assessment and
characterization of the present
environmental conditions at JB and TL using
benthic forams.
6
Objectives
to determine the distribution, bioavailability, and concentration of metals in
sediments within JB and TL
to determine if key identifiable
foraminiferal assemblages are good tracers
of pollutants on a spatial/temporal scale
to determine specific morphological
deformities induced by bio-available
metals in controlled culture experiments
7
Study Areas
ATLANTIC OCEAN
TORRECILLA
LAGOON
Torrecilla
Lagoon
SUAREZ
CHANNEL
PINONES
LAGOON
BLASINA
CREEK
Jobos
Bay
8
Preliminary Data from TL
Sediments
(cm)
Mean grain size: mud (81%)
9
Metals
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
H(S)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Mn concentration (ppm)
LOI (%)
2
4
6
8
10
12
Depth (cm)
Cu values exceed
the world's
background
values found in
Shale (45ppm).
14
Carbonate Fragments
16
No Carbonate Fragmetns
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
Hg concentration (ppb)
0
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
400
440
Cu concentration (ppm)
10
Foraminifers
< 16% deformity
Mainly Triloculina spp. (98%)
11
Proposed Methodology
ATLANTIC OCEAN
TORRECILLA
LAGOON
• Surface Samples:
JB- 46
TL- 15
SUAREZ
CHANNEL
PINONES
LAGOON
• Cores:
JB/TL- 2/2
BLASINA
CREEK
• Foraminifers
~300/sample
• Grain Size
Jobos Bay
12
Proposed Methodology
• Bulk Heavy Metal Concentration:
JB/TL- 32 elements/sample; almost
complete digestion; ACTLABS
•Metal Bio-availability:
Partial digestion using 1M HCl
•Heavy Metals in foraminiferal tests:
-Mn-coating removal
-Ultrasonic cleaning
-300 micro-gr sample size
13
Proposed Methodology
• TOC:
On all samples (JB/TL); Coulometric
Titration method
• Cs-137 and Pb-210 dating:
On all sample cores; Low Energy Standard
Gamma Detector
•Foram cultures:
Ammonia spp.
Amphistegina spp.
3 replicates/experiment
20 foraminifers/microcosm
14
Proposed Data Analyses
Fisher’s Index:
N= # individuals
S= # of spp.
α= proportionality const.
Shannon-Weiner Index:
s

N e 1

S
S

H(S)   pi ln(pi )
pi= proportion of the i-th spp.
Equitability Index:
S= # of spp.
H(S)= Shannon-Weiner Index
E '  e H ( S) / S
15
Proposed Data Analyses
Species Richness: number of species/sample.
Foraminiferal Density: # individuals/gm.
% Dominance: % abundance of foram species in a sample
Simpson Index: measure of diversity.
SHE Index:
D  (pi)^2
H  ln( S )  ln( E )
Ammonia-Elphidium Index:
[NA/(NA + NE)]*100
NA = number of Ammonia.
NE = number of Elphidium.
16
Proposed Data Analyses
Adsorption Coefficient:
Cf  ave[metal]foram / ave[metal]se dim ent
Enrichment Factor:
EF  ([metal] /[Al])sample /([metal] /[Al])baseline
EF <1 = no enrichment
EF >50 = extremely severe
Geo-accumulation Index:
Igeo  Log2[metal]sample / 1.5[metal]baseline
Igeo <0 = non-contaminated
Igeo >5 = highly contaminated
17
PROPOSED TIME TABLE
Year
2007
Comps
Field Sampling (I)
Sediment/Data Processing
2008
Sediment/Data Processing
Culture Exp./Data Analysis
Field Sampling (II)
Sediment/Data Processing
2009
Write Dissertation
1
X
X
X
2
X
X
X
3
X
X
X
4
5
Month
6 7
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
8
9
10 11 12
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My thanks to:
*Dr. Hallock (major advisor): for being a great mentor and
for taking me under her wing
*Dr. Green-Ruiz (co-major advisor): for providing guidance
and feedback when I was just curious about this topic
*Dr. Byrne: for your patience and insightful suggestions
*Dr. Hastings: for your interest and analytical perspective
*Dr. Flower: for your passion and interest in the
paleoceanographic perspective of this work
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¿PREGUNTAS?
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