Transport, Reactions and Dynamics of Heavy Metals in Contaminated Marine Sediments - (TREAD)
Type:
Presented during:
WODCON XVII: "Dredging in a Sensitive Environment" - 2004, Hamburg, Germany
Authors:
O. Larsen
Abstract: The environmental chemistry of heavy metals has been studied during the past decades, with considerable research interest concentrated on Cd, Pb, and Cu. Previous work has usually adopted a reductionist attitude, studying individual aspects of the complex problem such as molecular reactions, cytotoxicity, bioaccumulation etc. By contrast the research conducted within the European Fifth Framework Programme TREAD consider all major processes that influence heavy metal transport, reactions and ecotoxicity in marine sediments, thus adopting a holistic approach. We study the processes involved with heavy metal transformation in dredged material mimicking the natural conditions in mesocosms. We study processes in sediment with unaltered structure and homogenized sediment simulating the deposition of sediment at a site with low currents.
Furthermore, the biogeochemical processes are studied in a pristine sandy sediment added a suspension of dredged sediment simulating the deposition at conditions with higher bottom water currents. We found that there is a close linkage between the natural biogeochemical processes and the processes involved with heavy metal transformation.
Keywords: Biogeochemistry, Contaminant transport and Reactions, Heavy metals, Modelling