Responses of marine zooplankton indicators after five years of a dam rupture in the Doce River, Southeastern Brazil.

Since November of 2015, when ore tailings from a dam rupture reached the Atlantic Ocean, researchers are trying to assess the degree of impact across the Doce River and adjacent coastal area. This study aims to use the zooplankton dynamics as a tool to evaluate the environmental impact in the coastal region, five years after the rupture, during periods of low and high river flow. Doce River flow varied from 49 to 5179 m3/s and structured the zooplankton community between periods of low and high river flow, but salinity and chlorophyll-a had stronger correlation with depth (r = 0.40 and - 0.40 respectively) than with the Doce River discharge variation along the sampling period (r < 0.2). On the other hand, inorganic particles in the water and total metal concentration (dissolved + particulate), used as tracers of the iron enriched tailing (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, V), were correlated with fluvial discharge and showed to be the main factor driving the zooplankton community dynamics. For assessing the degree of environmental impact, we tested the ecological indexes for the zooplankton community. Margalef Richness, Pielou Evenness and Shannon-Wiener Diversity varied from 2.52, 0.40 and 1.39 (all registered during high river flow period) to 9.02, 0.85 and 3.44 (all registered during low river flow period), respectively. Along with those community indicators, we evaluated the response of representative taxonomical genera such as Paracalanus, Oikopleura and Temora, regarding the Doce River flow, and found population patterns that established a baseline for future monitoring in the region. Our results showed that the zooplankton community is more fragile when the river discharge is stronger, and this pattern is confirmed by all indicators tested.

An integrated study of the plankton community after four years of Fundão dam disaster.

Mining activities can affect the environment either by the tailings releasing or dams failures. The impact of the tailings can last decades and cause chronic effects due to their toxicity. The Fundão dam collapse, a relevant environmental disaster, occurred in November 2015 in Southeastern Brazil. Tailing rich in metals reached the Doce River and arrived in the Atlantic Ocean. Previous studies revealed the acute impact of the tailings in the marine planktonic community near the Doce River mouth. The current study aims to characterize the structure of planktonic assemblages in the impacted area after four years of the disaster. Sampling occurred in November 2018, January, April, and July 2019 at 32 stations located at the marine coastal area near the Doce River mouth. Our study detected high metal concentrations in the surface waters during January 2019, when the lowest diversity and abundance of phytoplankton, lowest zooplankton diversity, and low ichthyoplankton abundance were recorded. The zooplanktonic community was structured by environmental parameters and ichthyoplankton assemblages in November 2018, January and April 2019. Nutrients and metals, mainly iron from the tailing carried by the Doce River waters to the marine environment changed the plankton community, confirming the impact of the Fundão Dam collapse in the coastal area near the Doce River mouth. The phytoplankton community, influenced by the nutrients and to a lesser extent metals concentrations, was not decisive in the zooplankton community structure. The environmental variability was driven by the meteoceanographic conditions and the Doce River flow. There was a high correlation between the zooplanktonic community and ichthyoplanktonic assemblage and the environmental factors and metals. These relations indicate the impact of the tailings from the collapse of the Fundão Dam on these communities, even after four years of the Mariana disaster.

Iron ore tailings as a source of nutrients to the coastal zone.

The Fundão dam rupture was one of the largest environmental disasters worldwide and released millions of m3 of iron ore tailings into the Doce River basin in southeastern Brazil. Here we assessed the supply of dissolved nutrients associated to tailings in the Doce River estuary and its adjacent coastal zone. First, we observed an acute increase in dissolved silicates (From 16.26 µM to 175.47 µM) and nitrate (From 5.56 µM to 50.69 µM) in the estuary when compared to days prior to the event. Coastal marine ecosystems showed significant concentrations of nitrite (From 0.72 µM to 2.99 µM) and phosphate (From 0.09 µM to 2.30 µM) one year after the disaster, which we attribute mainly to nutrient recycling. The chronic effects include an increase in nutrient load to the coastal zone with a predominance of nitrogenous species, which may increase the limitation of phosphorus and silica to marine primary production.

Time-sequence development of metal(loid)s following the 2015 dam failure in the Doce river estuary, Brazil.

In the context of the Doce river (Southeast Brazil) Fundão dam disaster in 2015, we monitored the changes in concentrations of metal(loid)s in water and sediment and their particulate and dissolved partitioning over time. Samples were collected before, during, and after the mine tailings arrival to the Doce river estuary (pre-impact: 12, 10, 3 and 1 day; acute stage: tailing day - TD and 1 day after - DA; chronic stage: 3 months and 1 year post-disaster). Our results show that metal(loid) concentrations significantly increased with time after the disaster and changed their chemical partitioning in the water. 35.2 mg Fe L-1 and 14.4 mg Al L-1 were observed in the total (unfiltered) water during the acute stage, while aqueous Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn concentrations all exceeded both Brazilian and international safe levels for water quality. The Al, Fe and Pb partitioning coefficient log (Kd) decrease in the acute stage could be related to the high colloid content in the tailings. We continued to observe high concentrations for Al, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, V and Zn mainly in the particulate fraction during the chronic stage. Furthermore, the Doce river estuary had been previously contaminated by As, Ba, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni and Pb, with a further increase in sediment through the tailing release (e.g. 9-fold increase for Cr, from 3.61 ± 2.19 µg g-1 in the pre-impact to 32.16 ± 20.94 µg·g-1 in the chronic stage). Doce river sediments and original tailing samples were similar in metal(loid) composition for Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, V and Zn. As a result, these elements could be used as geochemical markers of the Fundão tailings and considering other key parameters to define a baseline for monitoring the impacts of this environmental disaster.