MARINE SEDIMENT POLLUTION IN THE BLACK SEA: SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION, SOURCES, AND CONTAMINATION ASSESSMENT ON THE ROMANIAN SHELF
Journal: Cercetări Marine - Recherches Marines
Year: 2025

"The Black Sea ecosystem is highly vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures, with its semi-enclosed character favoring the accumulation of pollutants. This study provides an updated and integrated assessment of sediment contamination on the Romanian continental shelf, focusing on persistent hazardous substances: heavy metals (HMs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Surface sediments co