Análisis Ecotoxicológico Integrado de la Contaminación Marina en los Sedimentos de la Costa De MurciaEl Caso de Portmán, Sudeste - España

Abstract

Portmán Bay, southeast Spain, contains the most seriously heavy metal contaminated sediments of the Mediterranean Sea. From 1958 to 1991, approximately 50 million tons of mine tailings were dumped into the bay, completely filling up the bay and dispersing over an extensive area of the continental platform and continental slope. The objective of our study was to characterize the nature and extent of metal contamination, sediment toxicity and the responses of natural communities to assess the environmental quality of the sediment deposits ten years after mining had ceased. We studied the physical and chemical characteristics of the sediments and the toxicity of the pore water and sediment-water interface using two sea urchin species (Arbacia lixula and Paracentrotus lividus). Metal bioavailability, and patterns of macro invertebrate community composition along the contamination gradient were also studied. Multivariate analyses indicate a strong relationship between sediment metal concentration, toxicity and benthic community structure.