DOI 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114181 Assessing the status of marine pollution at regional and sub-regional scales requires the use of comparable and harmonized data provided by multiple institutions, located in several countries. Standardized data management and quality control are crucial for supporting a coherent evaluation of marine pollution. Taking the Eastern Mediterranean Sea as a case study, we propose an approach to improve the quality control procedures used for sediment pollution data, thus supporting a harmonized environmental assessment. The regional ranges of contaminant concentrations in sediments were identified based on an in-depth literature review, and the lowest measured concentrations were evaluated to determine the “background concentrations” of chemical substances not yet targeted in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, to verify the suitability of the approach for validating large data collections provided by multiple sources, the determined ranges were used to validate a regional dataset available through EMODnet data infrastructure.
Marine pollution, Sediment, Trace metals, PAHs, Data quality control, Eastern Mediterranean
| File | Pages | Size | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Publisher's official version | 19 | 9 Mo | ||
Supplementary material S1. List of trace metals and PAH compounds targeted in this study and main European and Mediterranean directives regulating these substances in the different matrices ... | 2 | 65 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S2. Part A: Trace metals (Part A: Cd, Hg, Pb, As, Cr, Al). Analytical methods, detection limits, accuracy and precision. Part B: Trace metals (Cu, Ni, Zn,Co, V). Analytical... | 2 | 122 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S3. PAHs. Analytical methods: extraction solved, instrument, extraction duration, detection instrument, accuracy recovery and precision, detection limits. DCM: .... | 1 | 104 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S4. Background concentrations in metals for Eastern Mediterranean sediments estimated from cores | 1 | 115 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S5. Relationships between silt+clay percentage (x axis) and TM concentration (y axis). Information, not available for all selected references, is derived from tables in S4 .... | 1 | 115 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S6. Metals in offshore sediments | 1 | 193 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S7. Metals in coastal sediments | 1 | 56 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S8. Background concentrations in PAHs for Eastern Mediterranean sediments estimated from cores | 1 | 67 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S9. PAHs in offshore sediments. | 1 | 184 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S10. PAHs in coastal sediments | 1 | 64 Ko | ||
Supplementary material S11. List of SeaDataNet P01 terms available in the dataset to code: Pb, Hg, anthracene and benzo[a]pyrene. | 1 | 142 Ko |
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