Mercury colonial footprint in Darién Gulf sediments, Colombia

Unmixing Progradational Sediments in a Southwestern Caribbean Gulf through Late Holocene: Backwash of Low-Level Atmospheric Jets

“…There is strong evidence for how sedimentation is affected by these climatic, geophysical, hydrographical, and hydrological factors (Pekar et al, 2004). In fact, vertical accretion on the delta front corresponded to 2.7 cm/y after the last levee break (Rúa, Liebezeit, and Palacio, 2014) and increased to 10-15 cm/y during the 20th century (Chevillot et al, 1993). In contrast, we found that average deposition rate in the prodelta was fairly constant (0.2 cm/y) through the late Holocene.…”

“…Despite this, the coarsest facies were found in the Atrato Delta front core, albeit with a paucity (Rúa, Liebezeit, and Palacio, 2014). …”

“…Radiocarbon age of bulk sediment from León mouth and prodelta cores was analyzed at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre based on accelerator mass spectrometry ( Table 2). Age of the Atrato Delta front core is reconstructed from the mercury signal in sediments owing to gold amalgamation during the Spanish Conquest in Central America (Rúa, Liebezeit, and Palacio, 2014). Conventional ages were converted to calibrated ages using OxCal v3.1 (Ramsey, 2005) and mainly used for estimating sedimentation rates.…”

“…Studies at the Panama Isthmus in the Gulf of Urabá, where a narrow (130-km) strip of land separates the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, have been restricted either to surface circulation in the Recent epoch or anthropic effects on sediment yield and dispersion, as well as on benthic fauna (Álvarez and Bernal, 2007;Andrade and Barton, 2000;Andrade, Barton, and Mooers, 2003;Blanco, 2009;Correa, Alcá ntara-Carrió, and Gonzá lez, 2005;Gómez and Bernal, 2013;Montoya, 2010;Restrepo and Kjerfve, 2004;Restrepo et al, 2006;Vann, 1959). Moreover, there is little research on differentiating the effects of anthropic activities from natural variability on sedimentation through the late Holocene (Ospina, Palacio, and Vásquez, 2014;Rúa, Liebezeit, and Palacio, 2014). None of these studies have assessed the sediment structure throughout the stratigraphic profile to account for the interactions between environmental factors and external climate forcers within long timescales.…”

Mercury enrichment in anthrosols and adjacent coastal sediments at a Classic Maya site, Marco Gonzalez, Belize

“…Mercury is of particular biogeochemical and toxicological interest in mangrove–coral and human ecosystems due to distinct food‐web interactions (high biomagnification) and chronic health risks associated with the consumption of reef fish (M. F. M. Costa et al, 2012; Guzmán & García, 2002) and mangrove areas converted to aquaculture (B. Costa et al, 2013; Lacerda et al, 2011). Understanding long‐term anthropogenic and natural Hg cycling with contemporary sediment accumulation dynamics is also important, especially in relation to future remobilisation of colonial and legacy industrial Hg inputs to coastal zones (Fitzgerald et al, 2018; O'Shea et al, 2018; Rúa et al, 2014).…”