Sediment characteristics and microbiological contamination of beach sand – A case–study in the archipelago of Madeira
| Autor: | Susana Prada, Celso Figueira, Ana Regina Campos, M. Conceição Freitas, C. M. Ferreira, Graça Calado, Daniela Romão, César Andrade, Roberto Abreu, João Brandão |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Geologic Sediments Environmental Engineering Microorganism 030106 microbiology Beach Sand Quality 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences Natural (archaeology) Bathing Beaches 03 medical and health sciences Madeira Water Quality parasitic diseases Atlantic Islands Environmental Chemistry Mycological Contamination Waste Management and Disposal 0105 earth and related environmental sciences computer.programming_language geography geography.geographical_feature_category Bacteria Portugal Ecology Bacteriological Contamination fungi Fungi Sediment Contamination Pollution Água e Solo Granulometry Harbour Archipelago Environmental science Sand Granulometry Water Microbiology Calcareous computer geographic locations |
| Popis: | Beach sand can harbour pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms, as well as faecal indicator bacteria that influence directly the bathing water quality. Pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms often raise concern of exposure during beach related recreational activities. In this work, three different types of sandy beaches (natural basaltic, natural calcareous and artificial calcareous) of the Archipelago of Madeira (Portugal) were sampled for bacterial and fungal contaminants and grain size distribution, during four years (2010 − 2013). Following an extreme weather event in 2010, the faecal indicator bacteria levels spiked, returning to base levels shortly thereafter. The same phenomenon occurred with fungi, where potentially pathogenic fungi were the dominant group. Yeast-like fungi and dermatophytes were, however, mainly associated to months of higher usage by recreational users. Statistical analysis showed higher contamination of sediment in artificial beaches compared to natural beaches and granulometry and chemical composition of sand did not influence in the microbial loads. Instead, bather density and the influence of coastal protection structures needed to maintain the volume of artificial beach sand regarding the removal potential of wave induced currents are obvious influencing factors. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the CARMAC project (MAC/2/C011) and of the Instituto Dom Luiz — IDL (UID/GEO/ 50019/2013). info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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