Map Viewer

The cartographic viewer provides information about the chemical quality status of the Galician coastal water (mainly), based on chemical pollutants and ecotoxicity bioassays data. The data comes from two sources: literature and unpublished data collected by the group.

The chemical quality status is represented by a traffic light color code, similar to the one used by the OSPAR Commission in its Quality Status Report, for what they propose as cut-off points to separate the different environmental states as a function of concentrations or response metrics. It has been used three boundary values or cutoff points (P1, P2 and P3) which leads to four ecological states: background, acceptable, uncertain and unacceptable (fig 1).

Fig. 1. - Chemical Quality Status.

The cutoff points are established taking into account the criteria of the OSPAR Commission and scientific studies widely accepted by the scientific community and supranational organizations, selecting the most appropriate for each type of chemical contaminant and for each ecotoxicological response.

Chemical pollution data currently available is: concentrations of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments (cutoff points in table 1 and table 2) and wild mussels (cutoff points table 4 and table 5), and ecotoxicity bioassays (PNR values) using sea-urchin larvae exposed to water and elutriates (aqueous extraction of the sediment) (cutoff points in table 3).

Data is grouped in five-year periods, given the stability of the sediment, yielding three study periods: 1997-2001, 2002-2006 and 2007-2011, selecting the worst state for the same station when more than one value is available.

**Table 1.** Cutoff values for metals in sediments (mg/kg DW).
*Value normalized to 5% aluminum.
Metals	P1	P2		P3
Metals	BAC ⁽¹⁾	ERL ⁽²⁾	SQC_M⁽³⁾	ERM ⁽⁴⁾
Cadmium (Cd)	0.129	1.2		9.6
Copper (Cu)	27*	34		270
Lead (Pb)	22.4		58.7	218
Mercury (Hg)	0.091	0.15		0.71
Zinc (Zn)	122*	150		410

**Table 2.** Cutoff values for PAHs in sediments (µg/kg DW).
PAHs	P1	P2	P3
PAHs	BAC	TEL ⁽⁵⁾	PEL ⁽⁶⁾
Phenanthrene (Phe)	7.3	86.2	544
Anthracene (Ant)	1.8	46.69	245
Fluoranthene (Fla)	14.4	113	1494
Pyrene (Pyr)	11.3	153	1398
Benzo (a) Anthracene (BaA)	7.1	74.8	693
Benzo (a) Pyrene (BaP)	8.2	88.8	763

**Table 3.** Cutoff values fort ecotoxicological data for sea urchin (PNR).
Bioassay	P1	P2	P3
Bioassay	EAC₀⁽⁷⁾	EAC₁⁽⁷⁾	EAC₂ ⁽⁷⁾
Sea urchin	0.879	0.694	0.508

**Table 4.** Cutoff values for metals in wild mussels (mg/kg DW).
Metais	P1	P2	P3
Metais	BAC	MEDIUM⁽⁸⁾	HIGH⁽⁹⁾
Cadmium (Cd)	0.96	4	10
Copper (Cu)	6	17	40
Lead (Pb)	1.3	4	7
Mercury (Hg)	0.09	0.18	0.36

**Table 5.** Cutoff values for PAHs in wild mussels (µg/kg DW).
HAPs	P1		P2	P3
HAPs	BC⁽¹⁰⁾	CCAC⁽¹¹⁾	BAC	EUR⁽¹²⁾	EAC⁽¹³⁾
Fenanthrene (Phe)	4	-	11	-	1700
Anthracene (Ant)	-	0.44	2.7	-	290
Benzo (a) Anthracene (BaA)	1.0	-	2.5	-	80
Benzo (a) Pirene (BaP)	0.5	-	1.4	25	-

Notes:

(1) BAC: Background Assessment Concentration. Ospar Commission, 2013. Levels and trends in marine contaminants and their biological effects – CEMP Assessment report 2012. OSPAR Commission, 2013. Publication 596/2013: 1-29. [pdf]
(2) ERL: Effects Range-Low, ERM: Effects Range-Median. Long ER, MacDonald, DD, Smith, SL and Calder, FD 1995. Incidence of adverse biological effects of chemical Concentrations Within ranges in marine and estuarine sediments. Environ. Manage, 19: 81-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02472006
(3) SQC_M: Sediment Quality Criteria values in minimal-effects range. Bellas, J., Nieto, O. and Beiras, R. 2011. Integrative assessment of coastal pollution: Development and evaluation of sediment quality criteria from chemical contamination and Ecotoxicological data. Continental Shelf Research, 31 (5): 448-456. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2010.04.012
(4) ERM: Effects Range-Median. Long ER, MacDonald, DD, Smith, SL and Calder, FD 1995. Incidence of adverse biological effects of chemical Concentrations Within ranges in marine and estuarine sediments. Environ. Manage, 19: 81-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02472006
(5) TEL: Threshold Effects Level. MacDonald, DD, Carr, RS, Calder, FD, Long, ER and Ingersoll, G.1996. Development and evaluation of sediment quality guidelines for Florida coastal waters. Ecotoxicology, 5:253-278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00118995
(6) PEL: Probable Effects Level. MacDonald, DD, Carr, RS, Calder, FD, Long, ER and Ingersoll, G.1996. Development and evaluation of sediment quality guidelines for Florida coastal waters. Ecotoxicology, 5:253-278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00118995
(7) EAC: Ecotoxicological Assessment Criteria. Duran, I. and Beiras, R. 2010. Assessment criteria for using the sea-urchin embryo test with sediment elutriates as a tool to classify the Ecotoxicological status of marine water bodies. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 29 (5):1192-1198. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/etc.136
(8) MEDIUM: NOAA's thresholds for concentration ranges. Kimbrough, K. L., Johnson, W. E., Lauenstein, G. G., Christensen, J. D. ,& Apeti, D. A. 2008. An Assessment of Two Decades of Contaminant Monitoring in the Nation’s Coastal Zone. Silver Spring, MD. NOAA Tech. Memo. NOS NCCOS; 74: 1-105. [pdf]
(9) HIGH: NOAA's thresholds for concentration ranges. Kimbrough, K. L., Johnson, W. E., Lauenstein, G. G., Christensen, J. D. ,& Apeti, D. A. 2008. An Assessment of Two Decades of Contaminant Monitoring in the Nation’s Coastal Zone. Silver Spring, MD. NOAA Tech. Memo. NOS NCCOS; 74: 1-105. [pdf]
(10) BC: Background Concentration. Ospar Commision, 2013. Levels and trends in marine contaminants and their biological effects – CEMP Assessment report 2012. OSPAR Commission, 2013. Publication 596/2013: 1-29. [pdf]
(11) CCAC: CRISISMAR's thresholds for concentrations ranges. Environmental Quality Criteria for Marine Ecosystems. Research Project CRISISMAR, Ref. CTM 2009-10908: 1-20.
(12) EUR: Commission Regulation (EU) No 835/2011 of 19 August 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 as regards maximum levels for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in foodstuffs Text with EEA relevance.[pdf]
(13) EAC: Ecotoxicological Assessment Criteria. Ospar Commision, 2013. Levels and trends in marine contaminants and their biological effects – CEMP Assessment report 2012. OSPAR Commission, 2013. Publication 596/2013: 1-29. [pdf]