Mangrove (Avicennia marina) parts as proxies in marine pollution of Nizampatnam Bay, East Coast of India: An integrated approach.

This study focuses on the assessment of heavy metals (HM) concentration and pollution status of the Nizampatnam Bay, east coast of India, from mangrove plant parts (roots and leaves) and sediment samples. This is the first of its kind work (comparison of data from both mangrove and sediment samples) from the third largest mangrove ecosystem in India. To carry out this work, plant (Avicennia mariana) and sediment samples were collected from five stations. The collected samples were carefully subjected to the laboratory methods and heavy metal concentrations were determined by using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The obtained results were juxtaposed with the optimal values of world surface pollution rock averages, and noticed heavy metals such as Cd and Cu exceed the optimal values. To know the contamination levels and the chemical elements that contribute to the pollution, various environmental indices, viz., contamination factor, enrichment factor, geoaccumulation index, and pollution load index were, carried out on the sediment sample data. To ascertain the mangrove plant's capacity (in the study area) for accumulation and translocation of heavy metals in different parts of the plants, factors such as bio-concentration and translocation were calibrated.

An integrated approach for sediment characterization of Dead Sea, Israel: Implications to marine environment.

The Dead Sea (DS) sediment samples from two different sites on the west coast were analyzed. The objective is to document sediment characterization in order to study the interrelation existing among ingredients. The analyses show that Fe, Mg and Zn are the most significant trace elements found in the Sediment. Anthropogenic activities such as Industries, untreated sewage, agricultural wastes are some of the pollution sources that are considered to be lethal to the marine ecosystem. The DS is slowly disappearing at an alarming rate of 1 m/year. Hence a constant and precise mitigation, monitoring and management is mandatory. The present work is part of such goal in order to understand the health of the DS ecosystem. A cumulative and consistent effort of the Governments, stakeholders, tourists and the public will help in order to preserve and protect the health of the rare DS marine ecosystem for future generations.

Data on Molluscan Shells in parts of Nellore Coast, southeast coast of India.

X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), were applied to analyze the organic matrix of two Molluscan shells. The Mollusca shells are mineral structure and calcium carbonate crystallized as aragonite. The FT-IR spectra showed Alkyl Halide, Alkanes, Alcohols, Amides, Aromatic, and Hydroxyl groups in the organic matrix of the whole (organic and mineral) Molluscan shells. SEM images of particles of the two Molluscan shells at different magnifications were taken. The morphologies of the samples show a flake like structures with irregular grains, their sizes are at micrometric scale and the chemical analysis of EDS indicated that the major elements of Cardita and Gastropoda were C, O, and Ca, consistent with the results of XRD analysis. The results of the analysis of the EDS spectra of the shells showed that the content of most of the powder composition of shells is the element carbon, calcium oxygen, aluminium, and lead peaks that appear on the Cardita and Gastropoda and shells powders tap EDS spectra. The present work examined organic matrix of the selected shells of the heavily polluted and light polluted sites, along Nellore Coast, South East Coast of India. The heavily polluted sites have significantly thickened shells. The data demonstrated the sensitivity of this abundant and widely distributed intertidal fragile environment.

Dynamics of Pulicat Lake mouth analysis using geospatial data, east coast of India: Implications to socio-economic scenarios.

Pulicat Lake is one of the major wetlands in India. It is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India next to Chilika Lake in Orissa state. Pulicat Lake sits beside the Bay of Bengal so, the study on the mouth is vital. The investigations were carried out by using multi-temporal satellite imageries of IRS P6, LISS III data for four years viz., 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Subsequent changes in the width of the lake at the southern side were measured. It is found that the lake mouth is not static but dynamic predominantly fluctuating year by year. Obviously, this poses threat to the lake biodiversity. Hence, it is high time to mitigate, manage, monitor and protect the existing width of the sea mouth to keep the lake biological, ecological, economically active. This paper noticed a considerable change in the mouth of the lake studied using satellite imageries and socio-economic settings.

Organic matter from benthic foraminifera (Ammonia beccarii) shells by FT-IR spectroscopy: A study on Tupilipalem, South east coast of India.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the variations in organic matters of benthic foraminifera (Ammonia beccarii) from four samples collected from beach environments from brackish environments along Tupilipalem coast (South east coast of India). Common absorption bands were observed as peaks in the range of 3600-3400 cm-1, 3000-2850 cm-1, 1750-1740 cm-1, 1640-1600 cm-1, 1450-1350 cm-1, 885-870 cm-1 and 725-675 cm-1 in all the shells of Ammonia beccarii. The FTIR spectrum of station-1 represents the presence of alkanes (CH3) and alkyl halide (C-F stretching) with absorptions at the range 1385-1255 and 1350-1150 cm-1 were observed and ether (C-O stretching) absorption band was observed at stations 1 and 3 with wavenumber of 1115 cm-1 and 1117 cm-1 respectively. Alkynes C-H bend was observed at station-1 with the wavenumber of 667.43 cm-1. The shifting of peak positions in all the samples is could be due to presence of organic matter in the samples. Satellite remote sensing and field observation data revealed that the river mouth at Tupilipalem coast was closed by a sand bar. Consequentially, this waterbody may affect the species diversity. •Positions of the sampling locations were identified using a hand-held Garmin Global Positioning System (GPS).•Foraminifera from the sediment were obtained using a mixture of Bromoform and Acetone.•The functional groups present in the benthic foraminifera shells were recorded in the spectral range of 4000-400 cm-1 using an FT-IR Spectrophotometer.