Henry Vallius

Geological Survey of Finland | GTK · Environmental Solutions/Marine Geology

High-quality maritime spatial planning, coastal zone management, management of marine resources, environmental assessments and forecasting require comprehensive understanding of the seabed. In response to the needs already in 2008, the European Commission established the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). The EMODnet concept is...

The Gulf of Finland was studied in two international campaigns, in 1995 and 2014, with the purpose of mapping heavy metals in surface sediments. The data from the campaigns reveal that the situation with heavy metal concentrations has partly improved, but not at the same pace for all metals. Mercury concentrations have, on average, halved, and cadm...

This volume covers multi-disciplinary Research and Development contributions from Europe, Asia and North America on geology, geophysics, bathymetric and biological aspects, towards data sampling, acquisition, data analysis and its results, and innovative ways of data access. It also presents the development of processes to map, harmonize and integr...

This volume is covering multidisciplinary R&D contributions on geology, geophysics, bathymetric and biologic aspects, towards data sampling and acquisition, data analysis and their results, and innovative ways of data access. It also presents the development of processes to map, harmonize and integrate marine data across EEZ boundaries, an impressi...

Marine engineering geology requires good seabed maps and access to metadata. In 2009 the European Commission established the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) programme, which is now in its fourth phase (2019–21). The programme is designed to assemble existing, but fragmented and partly inaccessible, marine data and to create c...

The Lumparn Bay, due to its nature, is prone both to natural and anthropogenic environmental pressures. It is a semi-enclosed rather large, but relatively shallow bay filled with glacial and postglacial sediments. Unlike any other areas in the world the seafloor in this area is filled with gas domes. Comparison with the chemistry of some 2000 surfa...

Maritime spatial planning, management of marine resources, environmental assessments and forecasting all require good seabed maps. Similarly there is a need to support the objectives to achieve Good Environmental Status in Europe's seas by 2020, set up by the European Commission’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Hence the European Commission e...

In 2016, approximately 1800 previously unobserved seabed domes were found in high-resolution acoustic soundings of the Lumparn Bay in the Åland Islands, northern Baltic Sea. As similar geological features have only rarely been reported in earlier literature globally, the aim of this study was to characterize the domes, to investigate their geochemi...

Phosphorus (P) exchange in clayey mud sediments was investigated with desorption–sorption isotherms at 22 coastal sites in the eutrophied brackish Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea. The aim was to gain information on P sorption potential and pattern of oxygenated surface sediments and to elucidate factors explaining them. Modified Freundlich equation...

Marine data are needed for many purposes: for acquiring a better scientific understanding of the marine environment, but also, increasingly, as marine knowledge for decision making as well as developing products and services supporting economic growth. Data must be of sufficient quality to meet the specific users' needs. It must also be accessible...

Tworzenie zharmonizowanych map geologicznych mórz europejskich - III etap Projektu EMODnet Na świecie obserwuje się obecnie intensywny wzrost aktywności gospodarczej na obszarach morskich. Tym samym powiększa się presja na naturalne zasoby morskie i popyt na usługi związane z wykorzystywaniem ekosystemów morskich. W tych okolicznościach szczególnie...

In 2006–2008, experimental under-water extraction of shallow-water concretions was fulfilled in the eastern Gulf of Finland (water depth 25–28.5 m) using a dredge pump vessel. A study of this area carried out in 2011–2015 has shown that within the trenches (1 m depth) left by a mining vessel, previously slow clastic sedimentation was replaced by hi...

The Gulf of Finland has during the last centuries been loaded with heavy metals of anthropogenic origin. Work with mapping of the chemistry of the sediments have been done in all surrounding countries during several decades, first in the Soviet Union and later in Russia and similarly in Finland. More recent sediment chemistry data from the last two...

Neva Bay is the shallowest and easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea). St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, occupies the coastal area where the Neva River debouches into Neva Bay. St. Petersburg has a protracted history of industrial, transportation and urban related activity that have affected Neva Bay. By the sealing off th...

This assessment on the environmental state of the Gulf of Finland in 1996 – 2014 was produced by together over 100 scientists from Estonia, Finland, and Russia in the context of the Gulf of Finland Year 2014. The thematic year aimed at – and succeeded in – giving additional value for the protection and restoration of the Gulf of Finland environment...

Our recent knowledge of the chemistry of the seafloor of the Baltic Sea has been gained during the last century only and most of it during the last three to four decades. When thinking about the start of the industrialization it seems unfortunately late. However, fortunately the seafloor archives all environmental changes in the sedimentary column...

The southern coast of Finland encompasses about one third of the coasts of the Gulf of Finland. It is a mosaic of hundreds if not thousands of islands, peninsulas and bays, which also are reflected in the seabed of the coast. The sea floor is composed of a patchy and fragmented mosaic of mainly quite small basins separated from each other by thresh...

The Gulf of Finland is surrounded by three industrialized countries: Finland, Russia and Estonia. The large harbors of St. Petersburg, Vyborg, Helsinki, and Tallinn together with a few others as well as many smaller ports are located there. The population density is very high, and the two capitals (Helsinki, Tallinn) are home to one million people,...

The Gulf of Finland is a shallow sea where a multitude of activities compete of space. Many of the activities include reworking of the sea floor. The gulf is known to have been rather largely contaminated by heavy metals during the last century, and although indications of recovery have been reported, it is crucial to know the levels of sea floor s...

The Gulf of Finland is known to have been rather largely contaminated by heavy metals during the last half of the 20th century, but indications of recovery have been reported. In order to investigate the recent levels of heavy metals and arsenic in the uppermost soft sediments of the off-shore Gulf of Finland coring of altogether 23 sites were perf...

The Baltic Sea has received considerable loads of pollutants due to industrialization in Eastern Europe. Concern for the Baltic's ecological health eventually led to legislation and voluntary measures to limit pollution during the last decades of the 20th century. Heavy metal concentrations in open sea surface sediments reflected these steps to lim...

In total 27 short and one long sediment core, and 278 surface sediment samples from the Baltic Sea were analyzed for mercury (Hg), and organic carbon contents. Thirteen short cores and the long core were dated by radionuclide methods (210Pb,137Cs, AMS14C). The dataset allows discriminating between natural and human induced changes on the Hg levels...

Phosphorus (P) is one of the key nutrients affecting eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Sediment surface hinders P exchange between sea floor and overlying water, and thus has significance in regulating internal loading. Studies made in the Gulf of Finland (GoF) have reported significant spatial variation in sediments’ P storages, as well as in thei...

Eutrophication caused by excess availability of nutrients is a severe problem in the Baltic Sea and it induces the risk for sea bottom hypoxia. The Gulf of Finland is one of the most eutrophied basins in the Baltic Sea, and it is affected by hypoxic near-bottom water inflows from the Baltic Proper. Oxygen depletion further feeds eutrophication by...

The Gulf of Finland is known to have been under rather hard stress from the anthropogenic loading of harmful substances for many decades. The emissions are known to have decreased slightly during the last two decades, but can that decrease be seen also in the sea floor sediments? In this study, heavy metal data from the early 1990s are compared wit...

Eutrophication caused by excess of nutrients is a severe problem in the Baltic Sea and it increases the risk for bottom hypoxia. Hypoxia further feeds eutrophication by promoting release of phosphorus (P) from sediments, due to dissolution of amorphous iron oxides. However, P is released from sediments also in oxic conditions, for example, because...

Abstracts submitted to the 11th Colloquium on Baltic Sea Marine Geology, Helsinki 19th−21st September 2012

In this study, particulate organic carbon (POC) contents and their distribution pattern in surficial sediments of the Baltic Sea are presented for 1,471 sampling stations. POC contents range from approx. 0.1% in shallow sandy areas up to 16% in deep muddy basins (e.g. Gotland Basin). Some novel relationships were identified between sediment mass ph...

The Gulf of Finland is a shallow semi-enclosed sea area which due to strong anthropogenic pressure and poor water exchange is very sensitive to eutrophication. During its whole postglacial history, the seafloor of the gulf has been periodically anoxic, and anoxia below halocline can thus be seen as a natural phenomenon. During the last decades, how...

The Gulf of Finland has during the second half of the last century been under such stress as never seen before. Human activity in its catchment has introduced large amounts of harmful substances and nutrients into the water column. These substances can still be found in the offshore modern soft sediments of the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, al...

The Gulf of Finland is a shallow semi-enclosed sea area which due to strong anthropogenic pressure and poor water exchange is very sensitive to eutrophication. During its whole postglacial history, the seafloor of the gulf has been periodically anoxic, and anoxia below halocline can thus be seen as a natural phenomenon. During the last decades, how...

Vallius, H., 2009. Heavy metal distribution in the modern soft surface sediments off the Finnish coast of the Gulf of Finland. Baltica, Vol. 22 (2), 65-76. Vilnius. ISSN 0067-3064. Abstract This study is the first of its kind, as a systematic mapping of the whole coastal area of the Finnish part of the Gulf of Finland. This area was sampled with a...

The chemical composition and vertical distribution of sediment phosphorus (P) in shallow coastal sediments of the northeastern Baltic Sea (BS) were characterized by sequential extraction. Different P forms were related to chemical and physical properties of the sediments and the chemistry of pore water and near-bottom water. Sediment P composition...

The Baltic Sea is a relatively large sea area with a unique character. This European epicontinental sea, one of the world largest brackish water areas, has connection to the Atlantic Ocean only through the narrow Danish Sounds. The water depth is moderate, only 52 meters on average. There is no tide and the sea is partly ice covered during the wint...

In summer 2004, Department of marine and Environmental Geology of VSEGEI carried out investigations of the Neva Bay bottom surface east of the St. Petersburg Flood Protective Dam using a side-scan sonar system. The main aim of this experimental work was the creation of a new "factographical" map of bottom sediments and different types of technogeni...

Holocene accumulation of metals and nutrients reveal some extensive changes in the history of the Baltic Sea. Data from chemical analyses of sediment cores as well as sediment trap samples from the Baltic Proper show clearly anomalous concentrations of certain metals. Some metals such as molybdenum (Mo) are in such a degree enriched that their conc...

Holocene accumulation of metals and nutrients reveal some extensive changes in the history of the Baltic Sea. Data from chemical analyses of sediment cores as well as sediment trap samples from the Baltic Proper show clearly anomalous concentrations of certain metals. Some metals such as molybdenum (Mo) are in such a degree enriched that their conc...

Examination of surface sediment cores from the northern coastal basins of the eastern Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, revealed that almost all of the studied basins have been continuously or seasonally anoxic for at least the last 10 years. This can be seen as rather similar laminated sequences in the topmost parts of the sediment cores. Moreover...

The systematic geological survey carried out by the Russian Research Geological Institute (VSEGEI) during the period from 1984–2004 has enabled collection of data regarding the distribution, composition, struc-ture, and thickness of the Quaternary deposits of the northern–western area of the Russian part of the Gulf of Finland. The main aim of this...

The modern soft surface sediments in the sea area off Kotka in the Northeastern Gulf of Finland was surveyed for heavy metal concentrations. Altogether 10 sites were sampled with a gravity corer for chemical analyses. Data gathered during a three years period from the Northeastern Gulf of Finland with background concentrations of 12 trace metals is...

The modern soft surface sediments of the sea area off Kotka in the Northeastern Gulf of Finland were surveyed for heavy metal contamina-tion. Altogether, 14 sites were sampled with a gravity corer for chemical analyses. The sea-floor sediments of this rather shallow and thus sensiti-ve sea area have for decades been loaded with heavy metals and oth...

The joint Finnish-Russian project "Sediment geochemistry and natural and anthropogenic hazards in the marine environment of the Gulf of Finland" (SAMAGOL) aimed at filling a gap in knowledge of the environmental situation of the seafloor in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. This publication contains five peer-reviewed papers based partly on old existing...

The Neva Bay, which is the easternmost extension of the Gulf of Finland, has through the history of human settlement been affected by the inhabitants around its shores. Until 1703, when Peter the Great founded the city, effects of human actions were rather small. Rather rapidly, however, human activity in the St.Petersburg region increased consider...

The Gulf of Finland is regularly affected by inflows of anoxic deep-water masses from the northern Baltic proper. These dense water masses advance over large areas with a decline of benthic life in affected areas as a result. Such events have been regularly repeated over decades and centuries. The archipelago, however, is well protected, because th...

Rare earth element (REE) contents in short cores from the Bornholm Basin, the Gotland Basin and the North Central Basin and also systematic data along a piston core from the Gotland basin are given. Both ICP-MS and instrumental neutron activation analysis were applied. The REE patterns of sediments in the short cores are flat (shale-like) at differ...

Total arsenic concentrations in marine sediments in sea areas surrounding Finland were widely studied in the1990 s. Investigations were carried out in sedimentation basins, where settling of matter in the sea bottom has proceeded relatively undisturbed for a long time. Arsenic concentrations are mostly very low in the surface sediments of the Balti...

Heavy metals (cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, and mercury) and carbon were studied from sediment sampling sites around the whole Gulf of Finland. The samples were collected between the years of 1992 and 1996, thus this study reviews the condition of the Gulf in mid-1990's as revealed by a classification of the degree of heavy metal contamination of th...

As the deepest depression the Gotland Basin acts as the final sink for particles in the main Baltic Proper. Because of almost uninterrupted anoxia the basin has been more or less unaffected by bioturbation. Thus one would expect the sedimentary column in this area to be a good provider of undisturbed information on sedimentation throughout the post...

Rare earth element (REE) contents in short cores from the Bornholm Basin, the Gotland Basin and the North Central Basin and also systematic data along a piston core from the Gotland Basin are given. Both ICP-MS and instrumental neutron activation analysis were applied. The REE patterns of sediments in the short cores are flat (shale-like) at differ...

Three deep basins were chosen for this study and the most recent changes that are reflected in the uppermost 15 to 35 cm are reported. The Gotland Basin, the largest continuous sedimentation basin in the southern Baltic Sea, was chosen for the present study. Simultaneously, a quite large basin, the North Central Baltic Basin was investigated and ch...

The marine geochemistry of molybdenum is reported to be connected with anoxic sediments and processes occurring within such settings. Mo occurs in sediments from Baltic Sea deep basins in amounts far exceeding those of other marine deposits. It is however observed enriched only at certain depths in long sediment cores, hence confined to certain tim...

The North Central Basin was investigated thoroughly during the three year BASYS project in 1996 - 1999. The basin was sampled in several locations and the cores were analysed for total concentrations of a multitude of elements. The sediment surface in the studied basin is distinctly laminated and in the central area the thickness of the laminated s...

Increasing δ15N and δ13C values in coastal Baltic marine sediments are evaluated as indicator of changes in the trophic status of the ecosystem. The influence of eutrophication on the δ15N values was found to be so dominant that it even overprints the usually observed mixing gradient from terrestrial (low isotope values) to the marine environment (...

Diss. -- Åbo Akademi.

In studies dealing with the chemical distribution of elements in marine soft sediments, variations in sedimentation rate within a basin can bias the interpretation of the data. A basin in the central part of the Gulf of Finland was sampled at nine sampling sites along a transect, 1.2 nautical miles long. Gravity cores of the topmost recent sediment...

The anthropogenic loads of selected heavy metals in Recent soft sediments in the Gulf of Finland were studied through gravity corer sampling. Metals derived from silicates was excluded by applying a partial leach. Substraction of background values gave averages for the anthropogenically derived part of the heavy metal concentrations. The horizontal...

A large number of sediment samples representing most of the active mud accumulation areas of the Gulf of Finland were studied for total cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, arsenic, copper and zinc. The highest concentrations of metals were found in sediment surfaces in the easternmost part of the Gulf, which is influenced by the inflow of the Neva ri...

The highest concentrations of heavy metals in the eastern Gulf of Finland are found in the Neva estuary as well as in the open sea for some metals such as Cd. Vertical profiles show lower amounts of anthropogenically-derived heavy metals in the surface sediments compared to those immediately below. This can be attributed to improved sewage water tr...

A study was made of suspended sediments from a basin in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea, in the central Gulf of Finland. In this investigation, moored sediment traps were used to collect suspended particulate material during the half-year period from April to October 1996. An equivalent to the primary net sedimentation was estimated through stud...

Information on the distribution of metals in the recent sediments in the Gulf of Finland in the eastern Baltic Sea, has been scattered. In this study 55 sediment samples from different parts of the Gulf of Finland were studied. The samples were taken during repeated cruises in 1992 - 1995. Some of the samples were dated using the Chernobyl 137-Cs p...

Sedimentation rates at 98 stations in several coastal and open sea stations in the Gulf of Finland were determined using 137Cs distribution in sediment profiles.

Linear accumulation rates and dry-matter accumulation rates were determined using Cs-137 distribution in sediment cores from 98 coastal and open-sea stations from around the Gulf of Finland (the Baltic Sea). Results showed that the average linear accumulation rate varied between 0.05-1.94 (mean 0.60) cm a(-1) which corresponds to a dry-matter accum...

Sedimentation basins in the Gulf of Finland were studied by sediment sampling and echo sounding (12kHz) in grids from 1.0 x 1.0 NM to 1.2 x 1.2 NM and with a line separation of 0.1 NM. Precise positioning (DGPS) provided exact location data. All data (2500 - 3000 grid points/basin) were recorded during each grid run. The data were processed to isop...

The load of heavy metals in recent sediments in Gulf of Finland have been studied through gravity corer sampling during repeated cruises. All cores were chemically analysed for total concentrations. For the determination of the anthropogenically derived part of the samples they were partially leached using microwave assisted nitric acid digestion....

The Geochemical atlas of Finland which is based on a low-density sampling of the fine fraction of till, indicates that several strong multielement (for example, Al,Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Ni, Sc, Ti, V and Zn) anomalies are present in southern Finland. The study are presented is located in the Proterozoic Svecofennian domain. The northern part of th...