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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(2)

Spatial variability of cadmium, copper, manganese, nickel and zinc in the Port Curtis Estuary, Queensland, Australia

Brad M. Angel A B D , Leigh T. Hales A , Stuart L. Simpson A , Simon C. Apte A , Anthony A. Chariton A , Damon A. Shearer C and Dianne F. Jolley B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Environmental Contaminants Research, CSIRO Land and Water, Private Mailbag 7, Bangor, NSW 2234, Australia.

B GeoQuest, Department of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.

C CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management, Centre for Environmental Management, Central Queensland University, Gladstone, Qld 4680, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: brad.angel@csiro.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 61(2) 170-183 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09046
Submitted: 6 March 2009  Accepted: 27 July 2009   Published: 25 February 2010

Abstract

Port Curtis is a rapidly growing industrialised and urbanised harbour in Central Queensland, Australia. The spatial variability of trace metals in waters and suspended particulates was determined along axial transects within the harbour and in oceanic waters adjacent to Port Curtis. Dissolved metal concentrations were significantly elevated in Port Curtis compared with the concentrations measured in the adjacent coastal waters. Dissolved copper and zinc concentrations ranged from <19 to 800 and <31 to 580 ng L–1, respectively, and maxima were observed in inner harbour waters adjacent to the southern entrance to the Narrows and in close proximity to anthropogenic sources. Dissolved nickel concentrations were measured in the range of 110 to 900 ng L–1, and exhibited a maximum concentration in the central to northern Narrows, in an area that was not adjacent to anthropogenic sources. Dissolved manganese concentration maxima were measured in close proximity to the dissolved nickel maxima. It appears likely that the elevated dissolved metal concentrations in Port Curtis and the Narrows were not caused by a single point source, and are the result of several factors, including industrial activity around the foreshore, fluxes from sediment-porewater, low flushing durations, lower water pH and possibly episodic inputs from adjacent rivers.

Additional keywords: baseline study, spatial trends.


Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the University of Wollongong, CSIRO and the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone Estuary and Waterway Management. Leonie Anderson and Andrew Davis (Central Queensland University) are thanked for logistical support and coordination of field work, and David Spadaro (CSIRO) for assistance in the laboratory


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