25 monitoring sites in the Polish part of the Gulf of Gdansk (Southern Baltic)

Sediment grain size parameters; Sediment water content, porosity and surface area; Geological sample density

Sidescan sonars; sediment grabs; atomic absorption spectrometers; satellite positioning systems

The objective of the joint project of the Geological Survey of the Netherlands and the Polish Geological Institute was to develop techniques and methodologies for sea bed quality analysis, with the intention of identifying 'hot spots' and to gain an insight into the thickness of the polluted layers and the concentrations of the pollutants. During 1993-1994, vibrocores were taken in 16 locations and boxcores in 25 locations, also seismic profiling was carried out over these 25 locations. Cores were divided into 2 cm samples and kept frozen at -20° C. In the laboratory of the Geological Survey of the Netherlands, the samples of sediments from the top 0-2 cm and background samples from 22-24 cm layer were analyzed for content of SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, MgO, MnO, CaO, K2O, Na2O, P2O5, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ga, Nb, Ni, Pb, Sr, Tr, U, V, Y, Zn, Zr, organic matter and micropollutants PACs, PCBs and some others. X-ray photographs of 25 undisturbed cores were made for description of sedimentary structures. In the report, in addition to the data collected during the execution of the monitoring programme, older Polish and Russian data were presented and discussed.

Polish Geological Institute, National Research Institute, Branch of Marine Geology
Koscierska 5
Gdansk
Pomorskie
80-328
Poland