Cruise AVI-II 93: preliminary data from the Iskenderun Bay (Turkey)
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1993
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Abstract
Preliminary results obtained by the AVI-II Cruise in the Iskenderun Bay (south-eastern
Turkey), are presented. The Avicenna Project aims to verify the possibility of using benthic foraminifera lor
low-cost monitoring ol heavy metal pollution. About one-hundred and forty grab samples and four cores
were collected ranging in depth from 7 to about 85 m, C'l'D data were also collected at all stations. A more
detailed sampling was performed close to the possible main pollution sources: iron-steel complex, fertilizer
industry, pipe-terminal, harbour, towns. Chemico-physical conditions in the Bay are controlled mainly by
the general circulation pattern, and by the fresh water inflow from the Ceyhan River. The sediments mostly
consist of silty clays in the deepest area of the bay, of silty sands at shallower depth, above 45 m. Qualitative
obseiwations on macrobenthos allowed to identify biocoenoses and thanatocoenoses related to the
coastal detritic (DC), coastal terrigenous mud (\ГГС) and coralligenous (C) assemblages. Evidence from
cores and some grab samples revealed a dramatic environmental change from hard bottom communities
dominated by the coral Cladocora caespitosa to the present-day muddy bottoms assemblage.
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Pollution, Benthic assemblages, Iskenderun Bay
Citation
RENDICONTI LINCEI