Environmental modelling in the Gulf of Cadiz: Heavy metal distributions in water and sediments

Abstract

The Gulf of Cadiz (GoC) connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. An environmental study of the GoC is carried out through numerical modelling. First, a 3D baroclinic model is used to obtain the residual circulation and a 2D barotropic model is applied to calculate tides. The results of these models are used by a 3D sediment transport model which provides suspended matter concentrations and sedimentation rates in the GoC. Then heavy metal dispersion patterns are investigated using a 3D model which includes water–sediment metal interactions and uses the outputs of the hydrodynamic and sediment transport models. The metal transport model has been applied to simulate the dispersion of Zn, Cu and Ni introduced into the GoC from three rivers draining the Iberian Pyrite Belt, in the southern Iberian Peninsula. Results from the hydrodynamic, sediment and metal transport models have been compared with measurements in the GoC. In particular, the contamination of sediments collected along the southern coast of Spain is well reproduced by the model. Metal plumes reach the Strait of Gibraltar, thus the three rivers constitute a source of pollutants into the Mediterranean Sea.