Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn biogeochemical behaviour and biological transfer processes in the Northwestern Mediterranean

Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn concentrations were determined in planktonic organisms (Salps, copepods), their associated faecal pellets and in particles collected at 200 and 2000 m depth in sediment traps moored in the Ligurian Sea. Al and P were also measured and taken as tracers of lithogenic and biogenic components, respectively. The aim of this work was to determine the fluxes of trace metals in the Ligurian Sea and their variations with depth, and to to assess the biogeochemical behaviour of elements having, for some of them, an anthropogenic origin, by the study of biologically-mediated uptake and removal processes