Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway)
Historical copper mine tailings deposited in the Repparfjord, Northern Norway, provided new insight into the biogeochemical impact of submarine tailings disposals on high-latitude coastal ecosystems. The submarine tailings disposal in the Repparfjord represents a product of mining activities between...
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:11250/3149316 2024-09-15T18:25:49+00:00 Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway) Hoff, Marie Argentino, Claudio Huljek, Laura Fiket, Zeljka Mun, Yulia Barrenechea Angeles, Inés Strmic Palinkas, Sabina Panieri, Giuliana 2024 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3149316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171468 eng eng Elsevier Equinor: Akademiaavtale Norges forskningsråd: 287869 urn:issn:0048-9697 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3149316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171468 cristin:2253002 Science of the Total Environment. 2024, 924, 171468. Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2024 The Author(s) 171468 Science of the Total Environment 924 Journal article Peer reviewed 2024 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171468 2024-09-03T23:49:00Z Historical copper mine tailings deposited in the Repparfjord, Northern Norway, provided new insight into the biogeochemical impact of submarine tailings disposals on high-latitude coastal ecosystems. The submarine tailings disposal in the Repparfjord represents a product of mining activities between 1972 and 1979. Their environmental impact has been extensively studied during the last decade, but geochemistry of the sediment pore water, which is crucial to assess and monitor the in-situ metal leaching and bioavailability, has never been analysed. The actual impact on the benthic fauna remains poorly known. Therefore, this study couples the pore water chemistry and the foraminiferal analysis obtained from selected sediment cores (gravity core, multicore, box cores) to examine metal stability and the past and current status of the foraminifera community. We measured down-core sulfate and trace metal concentrations and Eh-Ph and applied the Shannon index, the AZTI's Marine Biotic Index (F-AMBI) index and the foraminiferal abnormality index. This study confirms the ongoing leaching of copper from the underlying mine tailings and release across the sediment-water interface. Leaching of Ni, Zn and Pb have been attributed to weathering of natural bedrock lithologies. The original benthic foraminiferal community disappeared almost entirely during the disposal period, and now it is dominated by stress-tolerant and opportunistic species like Bulimina marginata and Spiroplectammina biformis. Anyhow, against previous assumptions, the community composition changed, while the overall diversity and abnormalities (FAI) shell formation is unaffected by elevated copper concentrations publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Norway University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Science of The Total Environment 924 171468 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
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ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
description |
Historical copper mine tailings deposited in the Repparfjord, Northern Norway, provided new insight into the biogeochemical impact of submarine tailings disposals on high-latitude coastal ecosystems. The submarine tailings disposal in the Repparfjord represents a product of mining activities between 1972 and 1979. Their environmental impact has been extensively studied during the last decade, but geochemistry of the sediment pore water, which is crucial to assess and monitor the in-situ metal leaching and bioavailability, has never been analysed. The actual impact on the benthic fauna remains poorly known. Therefore, this study couples the pore water chemistry and the foraminiferal analysis obtained from selected sediment cores (gravity core, multicore, box cores) to examine metal stability and the past and current status of the foraminifera community. We measured down-core sulfate and trace metal concentrations and Eh-Ph and applied the Shannon index, the AZTI's Marine Biotic Index (F-AMBI) index and the foraminiferal abnormality index. This study confirms the ongoing leaching of copper from the underlying mine tailings and release across the sediment-water interface. Leaching of Ni, Zn and Pb have been attributed to weathering of natural bedrock lithologies. The original benthic foraminiferal community disappeared almost entirely during the disposal period, and now it is dominated by stress-tolerant and opportunistic species like Bulimina marginata and Spiroplectammina biformis. Anyhow, against previous assumptions, the community composition changed, while the overall diversity and abnormalities (FAI) shell formation is unaffected by elevated copper concentrations publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hoff, Marie Argentino, Claudio Huljek, Laura Fiket, Zeljka Mun, Yulia Barrenechea Angeles, Inés Strmic Palinkas, Sabina Panieri, Giuliana |
spellingShingle |
Hoff, Marie Argentino, Claudio Huljek, Laura Fiket, Zeljka Mun, Yulia Barrenechea Angeles, Inés Strmic Palinkas, Sabina Panieri, Giuliana Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway) |
author_facet |
Hoff, Marie Argentino, Claudio Huljek, Laura Fiket, Zeljka Mun, Yulia Barrenechea Angeles, Inés Strmic Palinkas, Sabina Panieri, Giuliana |
author_sort |
Hoff, Marie |
title |
Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway) |
title_short |
Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway) |
title_full |
Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway) |
title_fullStr |
Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the Repparfjord (Northern Norway) |
title_sort |
biogeochemical impact of historical submarine mine tailings on benthic ecosystems in the repparfjord (northern norway) |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3149316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171468 |
genre |
Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Northern Norway |
op_source |
171468 Science of the Total Environment 924 |
op_relation |
Equinor: Akademiaavtale Norges forskningsråd: 287869 urn:issn:0048-9697 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3149316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171468 cristin:2253002 Science of the Total Environment. 2024, 924, 171468. |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2024 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171468 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
924 |
container_start_page |
171468 |
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1810466285920714752 |