Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T02:31:26.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Occurrence of Some Trace Metals in Coastal Organisms With Particular Reference to the Solent Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

T. M. Leatherland
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, The University Southampton, England
J. D. Burton
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, The University Southampton, England

Extract

Measurements have been made, by neutron activation analysis, of arsenic, cadmium, antimony, mercury and zinc in organisms and bottom muds, mainly from Southampton Water and the Solent. The values are on a dry weight basis and refer to whole organism soft tissues unless otherwise stated.

Concentrations of mercury in algae ranged from 0·07 to 0·22 ppm and those in animal tissues from 0·06 to 1·9 ppm. The distribution of the element in various tissues of Mercenaria mercenaria was rather uniform, except that the concentration in the gills was about 2·5 times that in the whole organism. Variations amongst organisms from different parts of the Solent area and comparisons with other regions suggested some possible influences of local waste discharge, but there was no evidence of major effects. Anoxic muds contained higher concentrations of mercury than occurred in unreduced surface layers, suggesting mobility in interstitial waters of the uppermost zone and fixation under reducing conditions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdullah, M. I., Royle, L. G. & Morris, A. W., 1972. Heavy metal concentration in coastal waters. Nature, London, 235, 158–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ackefors, H., Löfroth, G. & Rosén, C. G., 1970. A survey of the mercury pollution problem in Sweden with special reference to fish. Oceanography and Marine Biology. An Annual Review, 8, 203–24.Google Scholar
Bertrand, G., 1903. Recherches sur l'existence normale de l'arsenic dans 1'organisme. Résultats des campagnes sdentifiques accomplies par le Prince Albert I, 24, 127.Google Scholar
Bowen, H. J. M., 1966. Trace Elements in Biochemistry, ix, 241 pp. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bowen, H. J. M., 1969. Standard materials and intercomparisons. Advances in Activation Analysis, 1, 101–13.Google Scholar
Burton, J. D. & Leatherland, T. M., 1971. Mercury in a coastal marine environment. Nature, London, 231, 440–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butterworth, J., Lester, P. & Nickless, G., 1972. Distribution of heavy metals in the Severn Estuary. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 3, 72–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, S., 1967. Toxic ions in bivalves. Journal of the American Osteopathic Assodation, 66, 1000–2.Google Scholar
Cranston, R. E. & Buckley, D. E., 1972. Mercury pathways in a river and estuary. Environmental Science and Technology, 6, 274–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Groot, A. J., 1973. Occurrence and behaviour of heavy metals in river deltas, with special reference to the Rhine and Ems rivers. In: North Sea Sdence (ed. Goldberg, E. D.), pp. 308–25. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MI T Press.Google Scholar
Fimreite, N., Holsworth, W. N., Keith, J. A., Pearce, P. A. & Gruchy, I. M., 1971. Mercury in fish and fish-eating birds near sites of industrial contamination in Canada. The Canadian Field Naturalist, 85, 211–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukai, R. & Meinke, W. W., 1962. Activation analyses of vanadium, arsenic, molybdenum, tungsten, rhenium, and gold in marine organisms. Limnology and Oceanography, 7, 186200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gavis, J. & Ferguson, J. F., 1972. The cycling of mercury through the environment. Water Research, 6, 9891008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, E. D., 1957. Biogeochemistry of trace metals. In: Treatise on Marine Ecology and Paleoecology, vol. 1, Ecology (ed. Hedgepeth, J. W.), pp. 345–57. (Geological Society of America Memoir 67.)Google Scholar
Gorsuch, T. T., 1959. Radiochemical investigations on the recovery for analysis of trace elements in organic and biological materials. Analyst, 84, 135–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, A. M., Jones, Y. & Stewart, W. D. P., 1972. Mercury in marine organisms of the Tay region. Nature, London, 238, 164–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keckes, S. & Miettinen, J. K., 1972. Mercury as a marine pollutant. In: Marine Pollution and Sea Life (ed. M., Ruivo), pp. 276–89. London: Fishing News (Books) Ltd.Google Scholar
Klein, D. H. & Goldberg, E. D., 1970. Mercury in the marine environment. Environmenta Science and Technology, 4, 765–8.Google Scholar
Koide, M., Bruland, K. W. & Goldberg, E. D., 1973. Th-228/Th-232 and Pb-210 geochronologies in marine and lake sediments. Geochimica et cosmochimica acta, 37, 1171–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leatherland, T. M., Burton, J. D., Culkin, F., Mccartney, M. J. & Morris, R. J., 1973. Concentrations of some trace metals in pelagic organisms and of mercury in northeast Atlantic Ocean water. Deep-Sea Research, 20, 679–85.Google Scholar
Lowman, F. G., Rice, T. R. & Richards, F. A., 1971. Accumulation and redistribution of radionuclides by marine organisms. In: Radioactivity in the Marine Environment, pp. 161–99. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1971. Survey of Mercury in Food, 33 pp. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Mullin, J. B, & Riley, J. P., 1956. The occurrence of cadmium in seawater and in marine organisms and sediments. Journal of Marine Research, 15, 103–22.Google Scholar
Onishi, H., 1969 a. Arsenic, Section 33-K. In: Handbook of Geochemistry, vol. 2 (executive ed. Wedepohl, K. H.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Onishi, H., 1969 b. Antimony, Section 51-K. In: Handbook of Geochemistry, vol. 2 (executive ed. Wedepohl, K. H.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Preston, A., Jefferies, D. F., Dutton, J. W. R., Harvey, B. R. & Steele, A. K., 1972. British Isles coastal waters: the concentrations of selected heavy metals in sea water, suspended matter and biological indicators - a pilot survey. Environmental Pollution, 3, 6982.Google Scholar
Pringle, B. H., Hissong, D. E., Katz, E. L. & Mulawka, S. T., 1968. Trace metal accumulation by estaurine mollusks. Journal of the Sanitary Engineering Division, American Society of Civil Engineers, 94, 455–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, J. P. & Segar, D. A., 1970. The distribution of the major and some minor elements in marine animals. I. Echinoderms and coelenterates. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 50, 721–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segar, D. A., Collins, J. D. & Riley, J. P., 1971. The distribution of the major and some minor elements in marine animals. Part II. Molluscs. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 131–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Study of Critical Environmental Problems, 1970. Man's Impact on the Global Environment, xxii, 319 pp. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Smith, J. D., 1971. Spectrophotometric determination of traces of tin in rocks, sediments and soils. Analytica chimica acta, 57, 371–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. D., Nicholson, R. A. & Moore, P. J., 1971. Mercury in water of the tidal Thames. Nature, London, 232, 393–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stock, A. & Cucuel, F., 1934. Die Verbreitung des Quecksilbers. Naturwissenschaften, 22, 390–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turekian, K. K., 1969. The oceans, streams, and atmosphere. In: Handbook of Geochemistry, vol. 1 (executive ed. Wedepohl, K. H.), pp. 297323. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ui, J. & Kitamura, S., 1971. Mercury in the Adriatic. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2, 56–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vlnogradov, A. P., 1953. The elementary chemical composition of marine organisms, xiv, 647 pp. New Haven: Sears Foundation for Marine Research.Google Scholar
Wakita, H. & Schmitt, R. A., 1970. Cadmium, Section 48-K. In: Handbook of Geochemistry, vol. 2 (executive ed. Wedepohl, K. H.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Young, E. G. & Langille, W. M., 1958. The occurrence of inorganic elements in marine algae of the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany, 36, 301310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar