Impact of millennial mining activities on sediments and microfauna of the Tinto River estuary (SW Spain)

Environmental geochemical mapping of Huelva municipality soils (SW Spain) as a tool to determine background and baseline values

“…Also, in the study area these elements could be associated to disposal of industrial processing wastes (e.g. Barba-Brioso et al, 2010;Ruiz et al, 2008) like other elements such as Ag, Hg, Se, Sn, Sb and Tl. Finally, Co, Cr, Ni, Be, V, have been included since have frequently been referred in the literature as elements with a conservative response to sedimentary cycles (e.g.…”

Soil and plant contamination by lead mining in Bellmunt (Western Mediterranean Area)

“…The consequent pollution of sediments and soils has received attention especially in the highly acidic area of the large Pyrite Belt in the south-western part of the Iberian Peninsula (Ruíz et al, 2008;Velasco et al, 2005). Much less information is available concerning the environmental impact of the, ancient lead mines in Catalonia, the North-Eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula.…”

Spatial and temporal variation of the benthic macrofauna in a grossly polluted estuary from southwestern Spain

“…Since then, the evolution of the estuary has been studied from the chemical point of view, in relation to the origin, variation and nature of the heavy metals (Elbaz-Poulichet et al 2001;Ruiz 2001;Bermejo et al 2003;Sainz and Ruiz 2006;among others). There are some works related to distribution and migrations of birds (e.g., Sánchez et al 2006) and ecophysiology of salt-marsh macrophytes (e.g., Nieva et al 2001), but there are few studies related to the contamination effects on organisms, except some on Ostracoda and Foraminifera (Ruiz et al 2004;Ruiz et al 2008), and ecotoxicology (Luque et al 1999;Morillo et al 2005). On subtidal soft-bottom macrofauna there is only one investigation previous to the implementation of the Correction Plan (Cano and García 1987) and a sampling survey enclosed in a general study of the Gulf of Cadiz communities (Drake et al 1999).…”