1. 137Cs baseline levels in the Mediterranean and Black Sea: A cross-basin survey of the CIESM Mediterranean Mussel Watch programme
- Author
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Thébault, Hervé, Rodriguez y Baena, Alessia M., Andral, Bruno, Barisic, Delko, Albaladejo, José Benedicto, Bologa, Alexandru S., Boudjenoun, Redouane, Delfanti, Roberta, Egorov, Victor N., El Khoukhi, Tahar, Florou, Heleni, Kniewald, Goran, Noureddine, Abdelkader, Patrascu, Vasile, Pham, Mai Khanh, Scarpato, Alfonso, Stokozov, Nikolay A., Topcuoglu, Sayhan, and Warnau, Michel
- Subjects
MUSSELS ,MYTILUS galloprovincialis ,ENVIRONMENTAL monitoring ,CESIUM isotopes ,CHERNOBYL Nuclear Accident, Chornobyl, Ukraine, 1986 ,RADIOACTIVE fallout - Abstract
The common mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis was selected as unique biomonitor species to implement a regional monitoring programme, the CIESM Mediterranean Mussel Watch (MMW), in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. As of today, and upon standardization of the methodological approach, the MMW Network has been able to quantify
137 Cs levels in mussels from 60 coastal stations and to produce the first distribution map of this artificial radionuclide at the scale of the entire Mediterranean and Black Seas. While measured137 Cs levels were found to be very low (usually <1Bqkg−1 wet wt)137 Cs activity concentrations in the Black Sea and North Aegean Sea were up to two orders of magnitude higher than those in the western Mediterranean Basin. Such effects, far from representing a threat to human populations or the environment, reflect a persistent signature of the Chernobyl fallout in this area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]- Published
- 2008
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