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(W/MF181) Temporal trends in the levels of heavy metal contamination in the species of the Guadalquivir River estuary after the Aznalcollar accident. Blasco, Julián1, Arias, Alberto1, Saenz, Verónica1, Ransome, Thomas1, 1 ABSTRACT- On 25th April 1998, the dam of the mine of the Boliden company in Aznalcollar (Seville) broke and a acid water and mud with high levels of heavy metals reached the Guadiamar River, a tributary of the Guadalquivir River. Before the construction of a dam in the Entremuros area an important amount of acid waters (ca.2.5 Hm3 ) entered the Guadalquivir River estuary. With the objective of analysing the evolution and impact on the ecosystem and on human health of this input of heavy metals a biomonitoring program has been carried out. Because any species can be considered a universal biomonitor, several species were selected belonging to different trophic levels: molluscs (clam, Scrobicularia plana, oysters, Crassostrea angulata), crustaceans (crabs, Uca tangeri, shrimp, Palaemon longirostris, prawn, Melicertus kerathurus) and fish (Liza ramada, Pomatochistus minutus). In this work the levels and trends in the heavy metal contamination for several metals is reported and a discussion about advantages and disadventages of the species selected and the possible impact of the human consumption is presented Key words: fish, molluscs, crustaceans, heavy metals |
