Soil-plant interaction in the Doce River Estuary: a dendrochemical approach and the dynamics of potentially toxic elements in soil affected by mine tailings

• Grant number: 20/11502-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2021
• End date: February 28, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Tiago Osório Ferreira
• Grantee: Renata Cristina Bovi
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In 2015, the Fundão Dam - owned by the mining company Samarco - broke down, pouring 60 million m3 of iron mine tailings into the Doce River. This is considered the worst accident in the mineral sector in history and the biggest environmental accident in Brazil, known as "Mariana Disaster". Pollutants impacted soil quality, estuarine benthic assemblies, water quality along the Doce River, causing severe ecological and social damage. There is a great controversy regarding the contamination of the areas affected by the tailings of the "Mariana Disaster" by Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE). To clarify this controversy, dendrochemical analyzes on tree growth rings can be used for the retrospective assessment of environmental changes, functioning as natural proxies of environmental conditions. Furthermore, environmental quality can be studied through the ability of living organisms to accumulate chemical elements, being considered as "biomonitors". The objective of the present project will be to elucidate and clarify the existing controversy about the contamination of the Doce River Estuary, using the dendrochemical analysis, carrying out an assessment of the environmental condition and the presence of PTE in the Doce River Estuary in the pre and post environmental catastrophe conditions. In addition, we intend to understand and monitor the condition of soil contamination through chemical analysis of tree tissues and their relationship with the soil of the estuary. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BOVI, RENATA CRISTINA; ROMANELLI, JOAO PAULO; CANEPPELE, BIANCA FERRAZ; COOPER, MIGUEL. Global trends in dendrogeomorphology: A bibliometric assessment of research outputs. CATENA, v. 210, p. 12-pg., 2022-03-01. (19/08533-4, 20/11502-0)

BOVI, RENATA CRISTINA; PESSOA, THAIS NASCIMENTO; BOSCHI, RAQUEL STUCCHI; DE PIERRI CASTILHO, SELENE CRISTINA; LIBARDI, PAULO LEONEL; COOPER, MIGUEL. Effect of hydrophysical properties on pipe formation in tropical soils. Science of The Total Environment, v. 827, p. 14-pg., 2022-06-25. (20/11502-0)

QUEIROZ, HERMANO MELO; FERREIRA, AMANDA DUIM; RUIZ, FRANCISCO; BOVI, RENATA CRISTINA; DENG, YOUJUN; DE SOUZA JR, VALDOMIRO S.; OTERO, XOSE LUIS; BERNARDINO, ANGELO FRAGA; COOPER, MIGUEL; FERREIRA, TIAGO OSORIO. Early pedogenesis of anthropogenic soils produced by the world's largest mining disaster, the "Funda tilde o" dam collapse, in southeast Brazil. CATENA, v. 219, p. 14-pg., 2022-12-01. (21/00221-3, 19/18324-3, 19/14800-5, 20/11502-0, 18/04259-2, 19/19987-6)