Shells of aquatic freshwater gastropods as archives for heavy metal contamination history of a river-coast transition zone – Proof-of-concept study inSouth India (Kerala and Tamil Nadu)

河流对沿海生态系统的影响尤其受到人为重金属排放的影响。这在人口稠密的亚洲国家表现得非常明显，在过去200年里发展迅速。淡水腹足类贝壳对监测重金属向这种水生生态系统的近期和历史性转移的适用性迄今尚未得到详细调查。本研究将对南印度佩里亚尔河、阿德亚尔河和库姆河沉积序列中的腹足类贝壳进行采样，并利用LA-ICPMS对其进行高空间分辨率的痕量重金属分析。将采用多壳和单壳硬化年代学方法来验证利用淡水腹足类贝壳作为人类重金属排放的环境档案的概念，该档案涵盖了过去200年社会和工业的快速演变时期。

Riverine to coastal ecosystems are particularly affected by anthropogenic emissions of heavy metals. This is highly pronounced in densely populated Asian countries showing fast evolution in the last 200 years. The applicability of freshwater gastropods shells to monitor recent to historic transfer of heavy metals to such aquatic ecosystems has so far not been investigated in detail. In this study gastropod shells contained in sedimentary sequences of the Peryiar, Adyar and Cooum rivers in South India will be sampled, taphonomically characterized and analyzed by LA-ICP-MS for trace heavy metals with high spatial resolution. Multiple and single shell sclerochronological approaches will be applied to verify the concept of using freshwater gastropod shells as environmental archives for anthropogenic heavy metal emissions in recent to historic times covering the period of fast social and industrial evolution of the last 200 years.