Assessment of the contamination state of marine-coastal sediments in regional contexts

The research is part of an environmental context impacted by various anthropogenic activities (industrial sites, urban settlements, maritime traffic) that have led to the alteration of the natural geochemical characteristics of marine coastal sediments. For a better management of sediments as a resource, it is of specific interest not only to obtain information on the spatial distribution of contaminants but also to identify anomalous situations on the basis of local site-specific background values. The research activity is part of the iNEST Project and will consist, starting from a critical review of the scientific literature in relation to contaminant concentrations in sediments in the northern Adriatic Sea, in the creation and management of a database of contaminants in coastal sediments, in the development of empirical models using geochemical/geostatistical approaches to study the spatial and temporal distribution of contaminants in coastal sediments, and in the elaboration of contaminant distribution maps and their anomalies for the coastal area under investigation.