Cadmium in the Amazonian Guajará Estuary: distribution and remobilization

Extremely high total cadmium concentrations (average about 500 mg/kg) together with very small (average of 1.1 microg/l) dissolved available cadmium have been found in the more acidic deeper layers of the bottom sediments of the Brazilian Amazonian Guajará Estuary. The paper shows that climatic changes and the periodic input of the Atlantic waters into the Estuary appear to have no direct influence on annual average total cadmium concentration, but they affect accumulation, distribution and remobilization of cadmium in different ways during the rainy season (February/March) and the dry season (November/December). Even if only a very small part of the total Cd is available, the concentrations of dissolved Cd in the Estuary are still high enough to cause environmental concern, if compared with concentrations in natural freshwater ecosystems.