Assessments of Metals in Coastal Environments: State of Art

This study is an overview of the assessments of metal contamination in coastal environments for the past five decades. Research articles with evaluations in sediments and biota were quantified and had their content visited for the registry of (1) the source of metals (anthropogenic or natural), (2) assessed country/territory, (3) groups of organisms assessed, (4) trophic transfer evaluation, (5) spatio-temporal variations, and (6) metals evaluated. We found an increase in the number of assessments over the years, mainly from 2014. The majority of the assessments pointed to anthropogenic sources of metals. The United States, the United Kingdom, and China were the most assessed countries. "Mollusks" was the most assessed group of organisms, and only 17% of all sampled studies identified any trophic relation, although there has been an increase since 2013. Spatial variations were more frequent than spatio-temporal and temporal variations alone. Cadmium, copper, zinc, and lead were the top metals evaluated in both sediment and biota. We believe that these are all valuable information for researchers and policy makers interested in the topic.