Ammonia-Elphidium index as a proxy for marine pollution assessment, Northeast Brazil

• Main Authors: Leonardo Antonio Pregnolato, Rayssa de Almeida Viana, Camila Cunha Passos, Maria Laura Misailidis, Wânia Duleba
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro 2018-08-01
• Series: Journal of Sedimentary Environments
• Subjects: index. Petroleum hydrocarbons. Pollution; Benthic foraminifera. Environmental monitoring. Ammonia/Elphidium index. Petroleum hydrocarbons. Pollution.
• ISSN: 2447-9462; 2447-9462

The Ammonia-Elphidium Index (IAE) allows to assess the oxygenation levels of coastal regions. Both genera used in this index are resistant to oxygen reduction conditions. The genus Ammonia has a greater resistance than the genus Elphidium to low oxic conditions, and both are abundant in the coastal zones, which makes possible the use of this index to access the impact caused by organic matter pollution in these regions. Hence, this index has been used in the literature to study polluted regions by large contribution of organic carbon. The Petrobras Polo Atalaia Production complex is responsible for the outfall of treated petrochemical effluents, called PAP-1, which introduce pollutants in the coastal area of Sergipe State, northeast Brazil. In view of the environmental complexity of the region, the objectives of this work were: 1) to analyze the dimension and diversity of living foraminifera assemblages in surface sediment samples collected in February 2014 around the Sergipe-Mar Subsea Outfall of Active Production (SMP); and 2) to apply the Ammonia-Elphidium index in this region as a proxy of environmental impact. The results allowed to evaluate the impact caused by the contribution of the effluents released by the SMP outfall of the Petrobras Polo Atalaia Production complex and their influence on the density and diversity of living benthic foraminifera in the study area.