Spatial distribution of arsenic in the coastal areas of the Crimean peninsula (the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov)

Higher concentrations of arsenic are dangerous because they are able to cause acute and chronic toxic effects on organisms, and therefore it must be considered as an important pollutant. The aim of this work is to monitor the distribution of arsenic in seawater, bottom sediments and soft tissues of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis in the coastal areas of the Crimean Peninsula in the Black and Azov seas. The sampling of seawater, bottom sediments, and mollusks was carried out during 2016-2018 expeditions of the R/V Professor Vodyanitsky. The concentration of arsenic in mineralized solutions was determined by inversion voltammetry using the AVA-3 analyzer. Coastal areas of the Crimean Peninsula could be arranged in the following order in terms of descending mean concentrations of arsenic in seawater: Yalta Gulf>Sevastopol area>Cape Tarhankut, Gulf of Kalamita, Laspi Bay>coastal areas of Alushta and Karadag Nature Reserve, Feodosia Gulf, the Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov, north-western coast of the Caucasus>Karkinit Bay. In the coastal waters of Sevastopol and in the Yalta Gulf, the concentrations of arsenic exceed its maximum permissible concentration (MPC) by 2,0-3,5 times. The highest content of arsenic in bottom sediments is observed near the southern coast of Crimea from the Laspi Bay to the Karadag Nature Reserve, exceeding the permissible levels by 2-4 times. The lowest concentration of arsenic is recorded in mussels from the coastal areas of Sevastopol and the Gulf of Kalamita, and the highest one is in those collected in the Karkinita Bay and near Cape Tarhankut. It was almost an order of magnitude lower in mollusks than the maximum permissible concentration established for food products. With respect to this value, mussels grown in the Crimean coastal waters could be considered suitable for food use. The wide variability of arsenic concentration in the environment does not lead to significant accumulation of this toxicant in soft tissues of the mussels.

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