Paulo Alves de Lima Ferreira

• Ph.D.
• Postdoctoral researcher at University of São Paulo

In this study, the levels of metallic elements (Al, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sc, V, and Zn) and radioactive tracers (excess ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs) were determined in three sediment cores using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and gamma spectrometry, respectively. These samples were collected from the Santos-São Vicente Es...

230Th is a radionuclide of the 238U decay series, characterized by natural abundance in sediments and a half-life of 75,380 years, suitable for direct evaluation of sedimentation rates and sediment ages in a time scale of 700,000 years before the present. 230Th cycle creates a contrast between supported and unsupported 230Th in the sedimentary matr...

This study examines the impact of the constant sedimentation-CS premise on sedimentation rates, mass accumulation rates and age-depth results obtained from unsupported 210 Pb models. The investigation is based on vertical profiles of 210 Pb, 226 Ra, 228 Ra, 40 K, and 137 Cs measured through gamma spectrometry from seven sediment cores collected fro...

Pb 226 Ra Depocenter Brazil Coastal Current ABSTRACT This paper aims to improve the understanding of the marine sedimentation of the continental shelf and upper slope off southeast (SE) Brazil during the 20th century through the study of the deposition of natural radionu-clides and its relationships with other sedimentological variables in a large...

Human civilization is causing many changes to the global environment, such as the widespread presence of coastal cities and air, soil and water pollution. A new stratigraphic term for the current age, the Anthropocene, has been proposed and is differentiated from the Holocene by anthropogenic alterations. This study evaluated the occurrence and dis...

Purpose Some marine organisms can be used as Biological Quality Elements to estimate the degree of environmental impact and to monitor the health of benthic habitats. Organisms with mineralized protections, such as benthic foraminifera, can provide helpful information on the evolution of the coastal system over a long period and determine the Paleo...

Environmental reference conditions (RC) and historical trends are crucial for assessing the degree of freshwater impact and formulating restoration measures. This is particularly relevant for freshwater systems used as potable water sources. Using sediments from the Carlos Maggiolo reservoir (Minas, Uruguay), located in a watershed with a mining hi...

This work intends to identify pollution sources along the margins of Guanabara Bay (GB; SE Brazil) through a multiproxy approach and Bayesian stable isotopic mixture model (BSIMM). For this purpose, 33 surface sediment samples were collected and analyzed for granulometry, geochemistry (heavy metals, total organic carbon—TOC, stable isotopes of carb...

RESUMO Estudos que a avaliem a heterogeneidade espacial e temporal em reservatórios podem servir como subsídio à implementação de políticas públicas, além de auxiliar tomadores de decisão e pesquisadores. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a heterogeneidade temporal e espacial geoquímica de sedimentos do reservatório Pedro Beicht (Cotia, São...

A Baía Babitonga é considerada área prioritária para conservação e uso sustentável, de acordo com a Portaria MMA n.º 9, de janeiro de 2007, pois é local de reprodução, alimentação e crescimento de espécies protegidas e espécies ameaçadas de extinção e abriga uma das maiores florestas remanescentes de manguezais da América do Sul. Este trabalho teve...

The historical impacts of eutrophication processes were investigated in six subtropical reservoirs (São Paulo, Brazil) using a paleolimnological approach. We questioned whether the levels of pigment indicators of algal biomass could provide information about trophic increase and whether carotenoid pigments could offer additional insights. The follo...

In a natural lake of southeastern Brazil (Lake Carioca), the current scarcity of limnetic cladocerans is attributed to the predatory activity of the dipteran Chaoborus larvae. The Inverted Trophic Cascade Hypothesis (ITCH) predicted that such predation pressure intensified after the decrease in native planktivorous fish populations, due to non-nati...

A multiproxy approach involving grain size, geophysical (resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and P-wave velocity), mineralogical (XRD), and geochemical (elemental, stable isotopes) data has been applied to core SP9 (128 cm long) to reconstruct natural and anthropogenic changes since ≈1850 AD (anno domine) (dating by ²¹⁰Pb and ¹²⁷Cs methods) in a...

The objective of this investigation is to evaluate the recent changes in the accumulation of organic matter and carbon on the Yahuarcaca lake system, by means of a multiproxy Paleolimnological study. The methodology based on lithological descriptions of 210Pb/137Cs-dated cores allowed us to infer the centennial sedimentation processes and carbon a...

Brazilian coastal areas have been exposed to various anthropic influences including physical alteration such as marina construction. To assess the impact of the pier marina construction in the Saco da Ribeira cove (Flamengo Bay, SE Brazil), sedimentological (grain size), geochemical (organic and trace elements) parameters and benthic foraminifera w...

All changes taking place in a watershed have repercussions on lacustrine environments, being these, the sink of all activities occurring in the basin. Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest and navigable lake, is not unfamiliar with these phenomena that can alter the sedimentation dynamics and metal accumulation. This study aimed to identify temporal t...

Continental shelves hold ecological, environmental and economic importance. Mud depocenters found on continent shelves are able to adsorb and incorporate organic and inorganic pollutants into the surface of their grains, creating an effective record of anthropogenic influence and environmental changes in a region. The aim of this study is to perfor...

The present study determined total mercury (Hg) in four ²¹⁰Pb dated sediment cores to assess the historical anthropogenic Hg accumulation in the Santos estuary, Southeastern Brazil. Background levels were identified using the deepest sections of the cores, corresponding to pre-industrial ages. Mercury distribution in the sediment cores (0.02–2.64 m...

This work examined the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in two sediment cores from the Passauna reservoir, in southern Brazil. The sediment cores contain organic matter deposited in the period comprising approximately 136 years for core I and 97 years for the core II. The distribution of PAHs reconstructs the historical atmospher...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) most likely derived from natural sources were observed in two sediment cores covering the last 100 years in an Amazon estuarine region. A considerable change in the PAHs main source was observed in the 1960s. Before the 1960s, the sources of PAHs seem to be related to biogenic and/or early-diagenetic processe...

This study provides the sedimentation rates (SR) of three drainage basins at Itaipu Reservoir (Paraná State, Brazil) by apply- ing 210Pb and 137Cs geochronological methods (CFCS and CRS models). The results based on the CRS model showed SR increasing in São Francisco Verdadeiro (SFV) and Ocoí (OCO) over the last decades (0.61 and 0.43 g cm2 yr−1, r...

Over the past two centuries, coastal and estuarine areas have experienced environmental stress due to rapid population growth, leading to higher demand, overexploitation, habitat transformation, and pollution, which have severe consequences on the overall ecosystem and human health. This work aims to understand historical perspectives of such envir...

Paleolimnological research can shed light on a broad range of environmental concerns; however, such studies are scarce in reservoirs. To address this lack of knowledge, a paleolimnological investigation was conducted to determine historical changes in sedimentation rates (SR), using 210 Pb geochronology, and concentrations of nutrients and metals (...

The palaeolimnological conditions of Mirim Lagoon, a large coastal shallow lagoon under the influence of historical human impacts related to the development of the primary sector of the economy were reconstructed. The first significant human impact consisted of locking the estuarine system to induce the transition from brackish to freshwater condit...

The worldwide evidence of human activities on the environment led the scientific community to recognize a new geologic time unit known as the “Anthropocene.” Since the twentieth century, urbanization and industrialization needs driven by population and economic growth have impacted several ecosystems including the estuaries. To assess the contamina...

This study introduces and discusses inorganic geochemical data from Patos Lagoon, the world’s largest choked coastal lagoon located in southern Brazil. Here, we characterise the sedimentary geochemical environment using different elemental ratios to assess the influence of both anthropogenic activities and the natural hydrological regime on the con...

The worldwide evidence of human activities on the environment led the scientific community to recognize a new geologic time unit known as the Anthropocene. Since the twentieth century, the estuaries have been largely impacted by urbanization and industrialization needs driven by population and economic growth. To assess the contamination, provenanc...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations were determined in four dated sediment cores collected in mud depocenters of the southern Brazilian continental shelf. Core dating results covered the interval between 1925 and 2017. The total PAH concentrations (ΣPAHs) ranged from 44.69 ng g⁻¹ to 305.43 ng g⁻¹ and were similar between the analys...

This work sheds light on the recent evolution (≈1915–2015 AD) of Sepetiba Bay (SB; SE Brazil), a subtropical coastal lagoon on the southwestern Brazilian coast, based on a multiproxy approach. Variations in geochemical proxies as well as textural, mineralogical and geochronological data allow us to reconstruct temporally constrained changes in the...

Lead has been widely used since antiquity, but its uses drastically increased during the Industrial Revolution. The global emission of Pb into the environment was mainly due to tetraethyl lead added to gasoline as an antiknock additive. Because of its toxicity and neurological effects, the compound was phased out in the 1980s. Isotopic signatures a...

In this study, the sedimentation conditions of Lagoa dos Patos, southern Brazil, were analyzed by applying ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs geochronological methods on four geological cores. The sedimentation rates showed a decreasing north-to-south pattern, indicating a strong influence of the Guaíba River discharge (the main Patos Lagoon tributary) on the transpo...

A three-stage sequential extraction procedure optimized by the European Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) was applied to assess the geochemical behavior and environmental mobility of As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in surface sediments from two ecosystems under different anthropogenic influences, the Estuarine Complex of Santos and São Vicente (ECSSV)...

The current study aims to do a comparative analysis of the results obtained with two End-Member (EM) grain-size modeling techniques (AnalySize and BasEMMA) and the Environmental Sensitive Grain-Size (ESGS) modeling for sediment samples collected in the mudbelts of the southern Brazilian shelf. The methods were compared using grain-size data from th...

Here, we examined changes in carbonate preservation in a deep-sea record (Hole U1431D, 4240 m water depth) retrieved from the South China Sea (SCS) during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 349. To evaluate these changes, we applied a micropaleontological and geochemical multiproxy approach including, planktonic foraminifer...

The pollution of rivers and lakes in developing countries is considered one public health and environmental problem in the urban regions. Studies of historical pollution of these environments help to understand the effects of anthropization on the growth of medium and large cities. In an urban lake, Arthur Thomas lake, in southern Brazil, Paraná st...

In this paper, we investigate the characteristics of the shelf mud depocenters off South Brazil, between latitudes 27°30′S and 24°30′S. A combination of geochronological, textural (grain-size), and geochemical (metals and εNd values) analyses allowed to recognize different mud deposits in the area. It was possible to recognize changes in the sedime...

Tropical reservoirs are sensitive to eutrophication but long-term impacts of impoundment on their productivity and biota are poorly understood. Here, we employ a palaeolimnological approach to assess whether ecological baselines can be defined for reservoirs, and examine the challenges and management implications. We studied the environmental histo...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (AHs), including petroleum biomarkers, were studied in four sediment cores collected around Deception and Penguin Islands, Antarctica. Total PAHs in Deception Island (DCP) samples ranged from 2.0 to 26.8 ng g-1, and in Penguin Island (PGI) varied between 13.2 and 60.3 ng g-1. Multip...

Current studies use indices and chemometric approaches to assess the health quality of estuarine systems to support estuarine management. This study aims to use a multivariate approach and a set of indices to evaluate sediment health quality. Levels of Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Sc, V, and Zn were quantified by ICP-OES, and nine indices were a...

In the present study, the environmental changes over the past 100 years in the Cambé River watershed in Southern Brazil were investigated. For this, a sediment core was collected to examine the distribution of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and ecotoxicological markers. The core corresponds from 1914 to 2012, which was obtained by...

Based on multiple proxies, such as major and trace elements, mineralogy, Corg/Ntotal ratio and δ¹³C, we assessed the natural and anthropogenic depositional record in a tropical estuary (Caravelas, Brazil). The Caravelas estuary was once a pristine area of highly important ecological role, due to its mangroves and proximity to the largest reef syste...

Natural and human-induced seabed sediment disturbances affect wide areas of the global coastal ocean. These recurrent to chronic disturbances mobilize significant amounts of material, including substances that have the potential to significantly harm the environment once re-released. This very challenging issue is difficult to deal with if sub-surf...

The impacts of anthropic activities have had profound effects on the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles in many aquatic ecosystems. We investigated the spatial and temporal distributions of carbon (C), N, and P in the sediments of a tropical Paiva Castro Reservoir (São Paulo, Brazil), as well as their release and retention in the system. In 201...

Lagoas costeiras são ambientes potencialmente ameaçados pelo aumento recente das taxas de sedimentação e elevação relativa do nível do mar. Neste trabalho foram analisadas as condições de preenchimento sedimentar da Lagoa Itapeva utilizando o método geocronológico 210Pb, a partir dos valores da atividade do 210Pb e 226Ra obtidos de três testemunhos...

In this work, we present a brief revision of the geological evidence of human activities in the coast of São Paulo (Southeast Brazil), from pre-historical times to the present. We analyze case studies in different sectors of the coast, identifying the main historical causes that resulted in environmental changes with their consequent imprint in the...

From sambaquis (shell mounds) to plastic debris: a summary of the geological imprint of human occupation in the coast of São Paulo (Southeast Brazil) Dos sambaquis (montes de conchas) aos destroços plásticos: um resumo da marca geológica da ocupação humana no litoral de São Paulo (Sudeste do Brasil) Abstract In this work, we present a brief revisio...

The Cananéia-Iguape system is a combined estuarine-lagoonal sedimentary system, located along the SE coast of Brazil. It consists of a network of channels and islands oriented mainly parallel to the coast. About 165 years ago, an artificial channel, the Valo Grande, was opened in the northern part of this system to connect a major river of the regi...

The Cananéia-Iguape system is a combined estuarine-lagoonal sedimentary system, located along the SE coast of Brazil. It consists of a network of channels and islands oriented mainly parallel to the coast. About 165 years ago, an artificial channel, the Valo Grande, was opened in the northern part of this system to connect a major river of the regi...

The sources and depositional history of OCPs (organochlorine pesticides), PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) over the last 100 years were determined in two sediment cores collected in the Amazon region. It was possible to distinguish two depositional periods along the cores. The first period oc- curred befo...

The Cananéia-Iguape system is located in a coastal region of southeastern Brazil, recognized by UNESCO as an Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve. This system has suffered substantial environmental impacts due to the opening of an artificial channel and by past intensive mining activities. In this paper was performed the sequential chemical extraction...

In this work, we present a brief revision of the geological evidence of human activities in the coast of São Paulo (Southeast Brazil), from pre-historical times to the present. We analyze case studies in different sectors of the coast, identifying the main historical causes that resulted in environmental changes with their consequent imprint in the...

As a result of anthropogenic activities, coastal lakes are potentially threatened by increased sedimentation rates and relative sea-level increases. The present study analyzed the sedimentary-filling conditions of Itapeva Lake by using the 210Pb geochronology method, which is based on 210Pb and 226Ra activity values obtained from three sediment cor...

The Bertioga Channel (SE Brazilian coast) is part of the Santos Estuarine Complex, situated at the Baixada Santista. The Baixada Santista is a very important economic region of Brazil which, due to its intensive economic development, has been experiencing several interventions on its coastal environment. Both the largest harbor, located on the city...

The Caravelas estuary is located in a zone of the Brazilian coast (Southern Bahia State) which has been submitted to different kinds of land uses during the last 50 years. This zone has an important ecological role, due to its mangroves and its location next to Abrolhos coral reef, the most important in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. 210Pb and 137Cs...

The Baixada Santista, besides being an important estuarine system, is responsible for most of the international trade and economic development in the region because of the Santos Port and the Cubatão Industrial Complex. The aim of this study is to assess heavy metal contamination of the Santos São Vicente Estuary using enrichment factors (EFs) and...

The analysis of heavy metals in sediments, associated with geochronology, can identify the historical accumulation of these contaminants that occurred over time as a result of anthropogenic activities. A study was conducted at Paiva Castro Reservoir, a tropical reservoir in Brazil, to (1) establish baseline values for the metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb,...

The Cananéia-Iguape system is located in a Southeastern Brazilian coastal region, acknowledged by UNESCO as Biosphere Reserve of the Atlantic Rainforest. This system underwent important environmental changes due to the opening of the artificial channel of Valo Grande and by past intensive Pb ore mining activities. In view of this scenario, this stu...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the case of toxic metal contamination of Sepetiba Bay caused by the Ingá Company. The paper reviews the history of the contamination and discusses the current presence of metals in the bay sediments, demonstrating that the toxic metals are clearly enriched. Sepetiba Bay is prone to significant dredg...

This study evaluated the spatial distribution of two environmentally relevant radionuclides, 137Cs and 40K, in marine superficial sediments around the Angra Nuclear Power Plant, the only Brazilian nuclear power plant complex, thus establishing a baseline for bottom sediments, given the international importance of environmental monitoring around nuc...

The Río de la Plata Estuary (RdlP) is a fluviomarine system that drains into the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean with the Paraná and Uruguay rivers as main tributaries. The estuary is fed by a 3,100,000 km2 catchment area which extends over the territories of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay (Acha et al., 2008). The RdlP exhibits signif...

Resumen: El Río de la Plata (RdlP) presenta significativas variaciones naturales (hidrodinámicas y oceanográficas) asociadas a diferentes condiciones climáticas. El propósito de este trabajo es inferir los cambios de aportes continentales de sedimentos y su relación con las variaciones hidrológicas del Río de la Plata, a través del análisis de prox...

Guajará Bay is an integral part of the Amazon Estuary system, and functions as the main receiver of urban and industrial wastes from the city of Belém, capital city of PA State (N Brazil). There is a lack of knowledge regarding quantitative measures of sedimentation, such as sedimentation rates, in the literature for this area of the Amazon Estuary...

This study aims to explore the hydrodynamic factors that influence the depositional processes on the upper continental margin of southeastern South America. Mineralogy and the activities of natural (40K) and artificial (137Cs) radionuclides from surface sediment samples were used to evaluate the provenance and oceanographic controls on depositional...

This study aimed the validation of the model of diffusion-convection (MDC) of 137Cs for the calculation of recent sedimentation rates in 13 sedimentary cores of two Brazilian coastal systems, the Cananeia-Iguape and Santos-São Vicente estuarine systems. The MDC covers key factors responsible for 137Cs vertical migration in sediments: its diffusion...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to validate and apply enrichment diagrams (EDs) to determine metal and as enrichment and contamination in the sediments of Sepetiba Bay. Design/methodology/approach – Through inducted coupled plasma – optical emission spectrophotometry, total element (As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) concentrations were assessed fo...

A sediment core (~100 cm long) taken from the upper Caravelas estuary was interpreted based on sedimentological, microfaunal, geochemical, and historical data for the last 70 years. Outcomes are a significant contribution to the understanding of the relationship between anthropogenic impact and natural ecosystem change. The results obtained for the...

Data about the concentration, accumulation and transfer of potentially toxic elements in Antarctic marine food webs are essential for understanding the impacts of these elements, and for monitoring the pollution contribution of scientific stations, mainly in Admiralty Bay due to the 2012 fire in the Brazilian scientific station. Accordingly, the co...

Keywords: SE South American shelf Mineralogy Radionuclide Rio de la Plata Brazil Current a b s t r a c t This study aims to explore the hydrodynamic factors that influence the depositional processes on the upper continental margin of southeastern South America. Mineralogy and the activities of natural (40 K) and artificial (137 Cs) radionuclides fr...

The study presents an evaluation of potentially toxic elements deposition in Bertioga Channel (Southeastern Brazilian coast) along the last 150 years, the main anthropogenic activity period in the area. Five sediment cores by means of ICP-OES to determine the levels of metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) and As. The pollution load index (PLI) and en...

The Paranaguá Estuarine System (PES) is an important estuarine environment on the Brazilian coast. The economic importance of the PES is mainly related to industries, fuel terminals, and the main South American grain-shipping port. The aim of this work was to determine the vertical distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in three sediment...

The radionuclide cesium-137 ((137)Cs) is produced exclusively by anthropogenic processes and primarily by nuclear explosions. This study determined the reference inventory that is (137)Cs associated with the element's original input, and utilized the levels of activity of this radionuclide previously measured in five sediment profiles collected fro...

Dissolved elements reactivity in water column directly influences their chemical and toxic behavior, and in their bioavailability, therefore, in their environmental profile in estuarine systems, important for their great biological productivity and location in zones with potential anthropic impacts. In this context, this study evaluated the behavio...