Geochronology and heavy metal flux to Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro state: a preliminary study.

Guanabara Bay, located in Rio de Janeiro state. It is surrounded by the second most important metropolitan area of the country. Over recent decades, land disturbance and urbanization in the surrounding area has significantly increased sediment input to the bay and had a negative effect on its overall environmental. This is especially related to high volumes of untreated sewage and industrial effluents. This study evaluates the history of this human impact through detailed examination of a sediment core taken from the northern portion of Guanabara Bay. A geochronology is established using ²¹°Pb dating and related to organic carbon and heavy metal fluxes to the sediments. This gave a calculated net average sedimentation rate for the core of 0.67 cm.year⁻¹. The organic carbon and heavy metals flux started to increase at the beginning of the last century and the highest values was observed in the top of the cores.

Geochemical distribution and bioavailability of heavy metals and oxalate in street sediments from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: a preliminary investigation.

As urbanisation accelerates within less-economically developed countries, populations in cities such as Rio de Janeiro are subject to numerous health risks relating to "heavy metal", sewage and vehicle pollution. These risks apply especially to children, through inhalation and dermal contact with pollutant-rich street sediments that reflect contamination from atmospheric deposition and act as effective sinks for heavy metals and oxalates. To assess the nature and extent of these risks street sediments were collected from industrial, commercial, residential and recreational areas with varying traffic densities within Rio de Janeiro. A modified selective extraction procedure was used to study the geochemical partitioning and bioavailability of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and C(2)O(4) (-). Oxalate partitioning has not been studied by traditional sequential methods and results from this procedure highlight the potential bioavailability of both oxalates and "heavy metals", especially Pb and C(2)O(4) (-) in industrial and recreational areas.