Marine Pollution Bulletin 171 (2021) 112725

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Marine Pollution Bulletin

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Baseline

Iron ore tailings as a source of nutrients to the coastal zone

Eduardo Schettini Costa a, *, Renata Caiado Cagnin a, Cesar Alexandro da Silva a,
Cybelle Menolli Longhini a, Fabian Sá a, Ana Teresa Lima a, c, Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Gomes b,
Angelo Fraga Bernardino b, Renato Rodrigues Neto a
a
Laboratório de Geoquímica Ambiental e Poluição Marinha, Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES 29.075-910, Brazil
b
Grupo de Ecologia Bêntica, Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Av. Fernando Ferrari, 514, Goiabeiras, Vitória, ES
29055-460, Brazil
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The Fundão dam rupture was one of the largest environmental disasters worldwide and released millions of m3 of
Ore tailings iron ore tailings into the Doce River basin in southeastern Brazil. Here we assessed the supply of dissolved
Dissolved nutrients nutrients associated to tailings in the Doce River estuary and its adjacent coastal zone. First, we observed an
Environmental disaster
acute increase in dissolved silicates (From 16.26 μM to 175.47 μM) and nitrate (From 5.56 μM to 50.69 μM) in
Coastal zone
the estuary when compared to days prior to the event. Coastal marine ecosystems showed significant concen­
trations of nitrite (From 0.72 μM to 2.99 μM) and phosphate (From 0.09 μM to 2.30 μM) one year after the
disaster, which we attribute mainly to nutrient recycling. The chronic effects include an increase in nutrient load
to the coastal zone with a predominance of nitrogenous species, which may increase the limitation of phosphorus
and silica to marine primary production.

The Fundão dam rupture in Mariana (Brazil) discharged around 60
million m3 of ore tailings into the Doce River basin that reached the
estuarine and coastal zones of Southeast Brazil in November 2015,
increasing their water turbidity and metal levels in water and sediments;
this has been implied from several decreases noted in water and sedi­
ment quality (Segura et al., 2016; Hatje et al., 2017; Queiroz et al., 2018;
Santos et al., 2019; Sá et al., 2021), as well as in biota (Gomes et al.,
2017; Bernardino et al., 2019; Bonecker et al., 2019; Andrades et al.,
2020; Fernandes et al., 2020; Gabriel et al., 2020) and humans (Fer­
nandes et al., 2016). Despite this, information is still lacking regarding
the Fundão dam disaster influence on nutrients in the impacted estua­
rine and coastal zones.
Nutrients are recognized as limiting for marine primary productivity
and changes in their concentrations lead to ecological consequences in
food webs (Sigman and Hain, 2012). Iron ore tailings can impact marine
nitrogen behavior resulting from the use of amine-based flocculants
during ore processing in dams (Alzaga et al., 1999; Araújo et al., 2005;
Turrer et al., 2007; Santos et al., 2019), as well as can increase silicate
and phosphate concentrations, as they are abundant in these exploited
rocks (Spier et al., 2007; Carlos et al., 2014; Almeida et al., 2018). As a
result, iron ore tailings increase previously limiting nutrients in marine
ecosystems that can lead to eutrophication, decrease of oxygen levels,
and ultimately reduce biodiversity in the impacted area (Rabalais et al.,
2009; Queiroz et al., 2021), which highlights an urgent concern related
to this issue and dams' ruptures. We monitored the dissolved nutrients
concentrations in the Doce River estuary and nearby coastal zones
considering different phases: pre-impact and acute stage and up to one
year after the mining tailing disaster, providing new data on the impacts
of this event to support several research studies developed since then.
The study area comprised regions near the mining tailing impacted
area, such as the Doce River estuary (Fig. 1) and its adjoining coastal
waters (from 17◦ 55′ S; 38◦ 53′ W to 20◦ 37′ S; 40◦ 22′ W), which in­
cludes marine protected areas (Abrolhos Marine National Park, Costa
das Algas Environmental Protected Area and Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge
– APA/RVS, Fig. 2). These ecosystems present high sensitivity for sup­
porting rich coral reef systems and the largest continuous rhodolith bed
worldwide (Moura et al., 2013). Sampling was carried out 3 and 1 day
before and during the arrival of ore tailings at four stations of the estuary
(two upstream and two downstream) to access the background levels of
the river (Expedition zero – E0; pre-impact and acute stage – Fig. 1). Five
other sampling expeditions were carried out at different times after the
tailing's arrival: 7–10 days after (Expedition 1 – marine zone); two

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: eduoceano@gmail.com, eduardo.costa@ufes.br (E.S. Costa).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112725
Received 7 April 2021; Received in revised form 1 July 2021; Accepted 12 July 2021
Available online 23 July 2021
0025-326X/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
E.S. Costa et al.
months after (Expedition 2 – marine zone); three months after (Expe­
dition 3 – estuarine and marine zones); five months after (Expedition 4 –
marine zone); and one year after (Expedition 5 – estuarine and marine
zones). Sampling of bottom water (1 m above the seafloor) and surface
(about 50 cm below the surface) were carried out using Van Dorn bottles
and kept cool in plastic bottles until filtered in the laboratory through a
cellulose acetate membrane (0.45 μM - Millipore ©) and then frozen at
− 20 ◦ C. High purity reagents (Merck or Sigma-Aldrich) were used to
prepare solutions for the analysis. All material used was previously
cleaned using EXTRAN © detergent and distilled water.
The analyses of dissolved nutrients were carried out by colorimetry
and absorbance readings performed on a UV/VIS (MICRONAL AJX-
6100PC) spectrophotometer. The phosphate (as HPO3− 4 ) was deter­
mined by the phosphomolybdic method (810 nm λmax); the nitrite and
nitrate (NO−2 e NO−3 ) by diazotization at 543 nm λmax, with nitrate
reduction in a Cd-Cu column (recovery >95%); the ammonia (NH+ 3 and
NH+ 4 ) by the indophenol blue method at 660 nm λmax; and the silicate (as
H3SiO4) by the silicomolybdic method at 885 nm λmax (Grasshoff et al.,
1999). The limits of detection were 0.008 μM for ortho-phosphate (10
cm of wavelength); 0.005 μM for nitrite (1 cm of wavelength); 0.002 μM
for nitrate (1 cm of wavelength) and ammonia (5 cm of wavelength);
and 0.003 μM for soluble silicates (1 cm of wavelength). Detection limits
were calculated using the quotient of the standard deviation of 10 blanks
by calibration curve inclination and multiplied by 3.3.
The results of the pre-impact and acute stage (Expedition 0, Fig. 1)
showed an immediate increase in the nitrate and reactive silicate levels
(up to 50.69 μM and 175.47 μM, respectively; Fig. 3), as well as
increased in averages (32.46 μM and 62.42 μM, respectively) when
compared to pre-rupture data for the Doce River basin (Marques and
Barbosa, 2001; Petrucio et al., 2005; Jardim et al., 2014; Figueiredo
et al., 2016; Table 1). In contrast, maximum nitrite, ammonia, and
phosphate concentrations were similar to or below pre-rupture levels for
the basin (0.33 μM, 9.07 μM, 0.11 μM, respectively; Table 1; Fig. 3), as
well as concerning its averages (0.22 μM, 4.76 μM, 0.09 μM,
Fig. 1. Distribution of sampling stations in the Doce river estuary (Espírito Santo state, southern Brazil) following the stages of the Fundão dam disaster: pre-impact:
3 and 1 day before and acute stage - tailing day (Expedition 0); chronic stage: 3 months after (Expedition 3) and 1 year post-disaster (Expedition 5).
2
Marine Pollution Bulletin 171 (2021) 112725
respectively; Fig. 3). We consider that the day of the ore tailing arrival to
the coast was when the riverine water became bright orange due to the
minerals rich in iron oxide from the dam (Gomes, 2017; Orlando, 2020).
As a result, we showed evidence of a prior load of dissolved nitrate
(NO−3 ) and silicates (H3SiO4), which was also confirmed for some dis­
solved metals (Sá et al., 2021); and are directly attributed to the tailings
input, as silicates are one of the major constituents of these tailings
(Grilo et al., 2018). During two other sampling expeditions in the es­
tuary (April 2016 – Expedition 3; and November 2016 – Expedition 5),
we found a prevalence of higher nitrate and silica concentrations one
year after the tailing dumping (up to 50 μM; Fig. 4). We also observed a
continued significant increase in NO−2 estuarine concentrations one-year
post-disaster (Expedition 5), that are far above the background average
levels for the river basin (0.2 μM) and correspond to the maximum
allowed by Brazilian legislation (2.8 μM; CONAMA 357, 2005). This may
be a product of de/nitrification processes of the N carried by the tailings,
considering the concomitant variation in nitrate and ammonia levels.
As previously noted, these changes in nitrogen behavior may be a
consequence of the use of amine-based flocculants during ore processing
at the Fundão dam (Santos et al., 2019). These amine molecules adsorb
on silicate surfaces, causing the flotation of quartz and other associated
minerals in the dam (Filippov, 2014; Longhini, 2021). Once the tailings
arrived in the oxygenated drainage system, some of these amines were
probably converted to the most stable oxidized nitrogen phase, NO−3 .
The concomitant increase of the silicates (as N carrier-phase) in the
acute stage helps to corroborate this hypothesis. For this reason, we
attribute that this persistent increase in inorganic nitrogen may be a by-
product of the oxidation of compounds (e.g. mono ether and diamines)
used in the iron ore flotation process (Ma, 2012).
On the SE Brazil continental shelf (up to 30 m deep), the average of
nitrite (E5) and nitrate (E4) were ten times higher than background
levels near the river mouth region after the tailing arrival (Table 2;
Fig. 5). Average soluble silicates were also four times above background
at acute stage and phosphate and ammonia averages were similar to or
E.S. Costa et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 171 (2021) 112725

below background averages on the continental shelf near the river

mouth (Table 2; Fig. 5). We observed maximum peaks of phosphate (2.3
μM; Expedition 5 – November 2016), nitrite (2.99 μM; Expedition 5 –
November 2016), nitrate (65.43 μM; Expedition 4 – April 2016),
ammonia (2.32 μM; Expedition 1 – Nov./Dec. 2015) and soluble silicates
(65.68 μM Expedition 1 - Nov./Dec. 2015) higher than maximum
background values (Ovalle et al., 1999; Figueiredo et al., 2016; Table 2).
This higher concentration for ammonia in marine waters one week after
tailings arrival is another indicator of contamination by the amine-based
flocculants used in the dam. As the highest concentrations of dissolved
silica occurred in the surface waters, we suggest its association to fine
tailings transported in suspension offshore (Fig. 5).
A progressive increase was observed for nitrite and phosphate over
the year sampling in Doce River adjacent continental shelf, with the
highest concentrations one year after the dam rupture (E5 - Nov. 2016,
Fig. 5). However, nitrate, ammonia and silicate decreased with time in
marine waters near the river mouth (Fig. 5). This temporal distribution
pattern for HPO3− 4 and NO2 may be associated with multiple factors.
−

First, we can consider the oxidation and remineralization processes of

autochthonous organic matter, because the tailings carried nutrients and
iron to the coastal zone, increasing marine primary productivity and
phytoplankton biomass (Fernandes et al., 2020). The death and senes­
cence of planktonic organisms originates dissolved organic matter
(DOM) rich in nitrogen (DON - Dissolved Organic Nitrogen) and phos­
phorus (DOP - Dissolved Organic Phosphorus) that are potentially
quickly recycled to dissolved nutrients (Kreus et al., 2015). The pro­
gressive enrichment of nitrite can also be related to the oxidation of the Fig. 3. Concentrations of dissolved nutrients in the Doce River estuary three
amines from Fundão dam (Santos et al., 2019). Likewise, another rele­ days before, one day before and on the arrival day (tailing day) in the estuarine
zone (Expedition 0).
vant factor for phosphates enrichment was that concentrations increased

Fig. 2. Distribution of sampling in the Doce river along the adjacent continental shelf (Espírito Santo state and Bahia state, eastern Brazilian shore). Colored dots
represent the stations of each marine sector: Abrolhos (green dots); APA Costa das Algas/RVS Santa Cruz (orange dots); Doce River mouth (grey dots); North sector of
the river mouth (blue dots); and South sector (black dots) on the Vitória and Guarapari shelves. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend,
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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E.S. Costa et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 171 (2021) 112725

Table 1
Background values of dissolved nutrients (Min/Max, average and standard deviation in μM) in the Doce River basin and estuary.
Region μM Phosphate Nitrite Nitrate Ammonia Silicate

Upstream Doce River – MG Min. – Max. 0.1–0.5 0.1–0.3 0.1–34.1 1.0–48.4 0.0–0.1 Marques and Barbosa, 2001.
Average 0.2 0.2 8.5 14.1 0.0
Median 0.1 0.1 7.8 2.4 0.1
SD 0.2 0.1 9.8 18.3 0.0
Upstream Doce River - MG Min. – Max. 0.1–0.3 0.1–0.6 1.5–7.2 1.3–13.1 0.1–0.5 Petrucio et al., 2005.
Average – – – – –
Median – – – – –
SD – – – – –
Upstream Doce River – ES Min. – Max. – – <LOD – 24.2 5–22.2 – Jardim et al., 2014.
Average – – – – –
Median – – 6.5 5.5 –
SD – – – – –
Doce River estuary – ES Min. – Max. – – 0.23–36.94 0.22–32.22 – Figueiredo et al., 2016.
Average – – 8.01 8.33 –
Median – – – – –
SD – – 3.22 1.96 –
Doce River estuary – ES Min. – Max. 0.08–0.11 0.05–0.33 5.56–50.69 1.43–9.07 16.28–175.47 Present study
Average 0.09 0.22 32.46 4.76 62.42 2015–2016
Median 0.08 0.25 39.43 4.41 55.50
SD 0.01 0.11 15.56 2.20 42.49

Fig. 4. Concentrations of dissolved nutrients (pink dots) expressed in min./
max. (*), average (square) and median (line) values for the three sampling
expeditions carried out in the Doce River estuary over the year after the Fundão
dam rupture. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
in bottom waters on this last expedition (E5 – November 2016; Fig. 5),
which is probably linked to the desorption of this nutrient from the
sediments enriched in iron oxyhydroxides from the tailings over time, as
suggested in a previous study (Queiroz et al., 2021).
High concentrations of phosphates and nitrogenous nutrients are
usually related to material from other anthropogenic sources (e.g.
agriculture, domestic and industrial sewage) (Devlin et al., 2015). In
addition to mining, the Doce River basin is impacted by the release of
contaminants from agriculture and urbanization (Santolin et al., 2015).
Our results show that the acute effects of ore tailings were remarkable in
terms of the nitrate increase, which would be expected for phosphate as
well because urban and agriculture residues were leached by the mud
tsunami (Sale and Mokwunye, 1993). However, dissolved phosphates
remained in low concentrations in the acute stage, highlighting the role
of ore tailings as a nitrogen source and suggesting that the tailings are
not enriched in soluble phosphates. However, it is known that the
chronic increase in phosphorus over time is linked to dissimilatory Fe
reduction from tailings; this led an increase in the concentrations of
readily available P with time and confirms that the exploited rocks are
enriched in P associated to crystalline Fe (Queiroz et al., 2021). In
contrast, the variation among nitrogen species seems to be related to
chemical changes in the enriched material coming from the dam (Ma,
2012).
Concerning the regions beyond the Doce River mouth, our results
indicates that the dissolved nutrients carried by the ore tailings reached
Marine Protected Areas on the coast, with nitrate reaching nine times
the background (from 5.64 to 45.77 μM) on Expedition 2 (Jan. 2016) in
the Costa das Algas Environmental Protected Area and Santa Cruz
Wildlife Refuge – APA/RVS (Table 3). The impacts of tailings on the
levels of dissolved nutrients (especially nitrate and silica) were most
evident in APA/RVS two months after the disaster (January 2016,
Expedition 2). The APA/RVS is located to the south of the river and was
impacted by the plume of tailings following the dam rupture (Magris
et al., 2019). Although the maximum levels of nitrate reached four times
the background in Abrolhos (from 3.84 to 11.34 μM), there is no further
evidence (e. g. silicate increase) that the tailings have interfered with the
nutrient levels in this naturally productive region (Table 3). Further­
more, it was not possible to relate the dissolved nutrient concentrations
with the tailings along the Vitória to Guarapari shelves (Fig. 2) due the
intense local urbanization and diffuse sources of pollution in these cities
(Hadlich et al., 2018; Bernardino et al., 2019).
Finally, we evaluated the inorganic relationships between dissolved
nitrogen, phosphate and silicates to assess nutrient limitations according
to the Redfield stoichiometric ratio (16:1:16; N:P:Si, Redfield et al.,
1963) and we reported the predominance of limitation in silicates and
phosphates for almost all sampling stations on the continental shelf
(Fig. 6). It suggests a strong influence of nitrogen compounds in the
studied region after the dam rupture, except for Expedition 5, when
phosphate was more concentrated, leading mainly to silicate limitations
one year after the disaster. The phytoplankton community in coastal
regions is usually limited by nitrogen (Howarth and Marino, 2006;
Smith, 2006), but this nutrient was probably not a limitation for the area
after the tailing arrival in the Doce River coastal zone. Phosphorus can
be limiting in some cases when associated with high concentrations of
nitrogen (Turner and Rabalais, 2013), which could be happening in the
present study. This limitation by PID and DSi can induce changes in the
specific composition of phytoplankton, tending to lead to a reduction in
diatoms and an increase in potentially dangerous non-silica algae by
prevalence of regenerated production (Lin et al., 2005).

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E.S. Costa et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 171 (2021) 112725

Table 2
Values of dissolved nutrients (Min/Max, average and standard deviation in μM) in marine region of Doce River mouth for the 5 expeditions and backgrounds data for
the study continental shelf.
Expedition Phosphate Nitrite Nitrate Ammonia Silicate Period

E1 Min. – Max. 0.02–0.28 <LOD – 0.22 0.74–26.48 0.42–2.32 0.87–65.58 Nov./Dec. 2015
Nov./Dec. 2015 Average 0.11 0.07 4.73 1.07 5.65
SD 0.05 0.06 5.21 0.40 12.63
E2 Min. – Max. 0.02–0.17 <LOD – 0.40 <LOD – 62.67 <LOD – 0.27 0.49–34.50 January 2016
Jan. 2016 Average 0.05 0.12 8.52 0.06 2.97
SD 0.03 0.09 13.09 0.07 5.94
E3 Min. – Max. 0.01–0.20 0.01–0.36 0.26–23.54 0.27–2.16 0.04–54.78 February 2016
Feb. 2016 Average 0.11 0.10 4.92 0.91 4.68
SD 0.05 0.09 5.66 0.45 11.12
E4 Min. – Max. 0.11–1.15 0.21–0.69 6.62–65.43 0.01–1.40 1.92–10.07 April 2016
April 2016 Average 0.28 0.36 26.42 0.27 2.91
SD 0.25 0.10 17.96 0.28 1.40
E5 Min. – Max. 0.09–2.30 0.72–2.99 <LOD – 47.73 <LOD – 0.59 0.13–16.68 November 2016
Nov. 2016 Average 0.40 1.38 7.21 0.16 2.01
SD 0.47 0.68 11.33 0.13 3.62
Espírito Santo State inner shelf Min. – Max. 0.14–0.54 – <LOD - 0.1 <0.5–1.8 0.55–6.95 Ovalle et al., 1999
Average 0.34 – – 0.9 3.18
SD 0.12 – – 0.5 1.99
Doce River mouth Min. – Max. <LOD – 0.59 <LOD – 0.23 <LOD – 5.67 0.16–1.51 0.04–3.91 Figueiredo et al., 2016
Average 0.18 0.1 2.64 0.51 1.38
SD 0.2 0.09 1.89 0.43 1.43

Fig. 5. Concentrations of dissolved nutrients (pink dots) expressed in min./max. (*), average (square) and median (line) values in surface and bottom waters for the
five sampling expeditions carried out in the Doce River mouth (Continental Shelf) over the year after the Fundão dam rupture. (For interpretation of the references to
colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

1. Conclusion disposal were silica (the main constituent of the tailings) and nitrate.
Over time, important variations in nitrite and phosphate levels have
The nutrients directly linked to the acute impact of the tailing's been noted near the river mouth, which we mainly linked to the

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E.S. Costa et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 171 (2021) 112725

Table 3
Values of dissolved nutrients (Min/Max, average and standard deviation in μM) in marine regions sampled beyond the mouth of the Doce River.
Expedition Region μM Phosphate Nitrite Nitrate Ammonia Silicate

2 Abrolhos Min/Max 0.02–0.05 <LOD – 0.18 2.58–10.48 0.01–0.06 0.43–1.53

Jan. 2016 Average 0.04 0.09 5.14 0.04 0.82
SD 0.01 0.06 2.24 0.02 0.38
North sector Min/Max 0.03–0.08 0.09–0.15 2.14–7.58 0.02–0.27 0.67–1.31
Average 0.05 0.11 4.47 0.16 0.89
SD 0.02 0.03 2.27 0.13 0.29
APA/RVS Min/Max 0.02–0.17 0.05–0.39 0.02–45.77 <LOD – 0.05 0.58–5.59
Average 0.072 0.165 11.456 0.037 2.771
SD 0.055 0.109 16.136 0.011 1.854
4 Abrolhos Min/Max 0.11–0.26 0.21–0.36 2.61–11.34 0.05–0.23 1.96–3.37
April 2016 Average 0.15 0.27 6.87 0.14 2.38
SD 0.06 0.06 3.91 0.06 0.51
North sector Min/Max 0.07–0.34 0.26–0.47 0.01–12.46 0.02–0.20 1.68–6.22
Average 0.25 0.31 8.21 0.12 3.02
SD 0.04 0.07 2.15 0.07 1.29
APA/RVS Min/Max 0.11–0.21 0.29–0.43 7.19–19.75 0.05–0.27 1.92–3.33
Average 0.14 0.35 11.96 0.13 2.51
SD 0.03 0.05 4.05 0.087 0.54
South sector Min/Max 0.10–0.14 0.27–0.46 4.19–14.82 0.02–0.28 2.44–4.12
Average 0.12 0.40 9.28 0.16 2.57
SD 0.01 0.05 2.99 0.08 0.53
5 APA/RVS Min/Max 0.015–0.22 0.11–0.139 <LOD – 0.07 <LOD – 0.002 0.067–0.108
Dec. 2016 Average 0.078 0.127 0.021 0.000 0.086
SD 0.096 0.008 0.035 0.001 0.021
Figueiredo et al., 2016 Abrolhos Min/Max <LOD – 0.07 <LOD – 0.58 <LOD – 3.84 0.10–0.8 <LOD – 2.13
Average 0.02 0.11 1.69 0.35 0.87
SD 0.03 0.2 1.36 0.29 0.95
Figueiredo et al., 2016 APA/RVS Min/Max <LOD – 0.59 <LOD – 0.23 <LOD – 5.67 0.16–1.51 0.04–3.91
Average 0.18 0.1 2.64 0.51 1.38
SD 0.2 0.09 1.89 0.43 1.43

Fig. 6. Relationships between Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN), Dissolved Inorganic Phosphate (DIP) and Dissolved Silicate (DSi) in the marine region. The red
lines represent the Redfield ratio and the dashed lines represent the main groups. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)

6
E.S. Costa et al.
remineralization of organic matter due to an increase in primary pro­
ductivity and to phosphorous dissociation from Fe oxides by the
continuous discharge of the tailings in the coastal zone. The acute and
chronic increase in the oxidized nitrogen is attributed both to the
recycling of nutrients and possibly to the specific enrichment of the ore
tailings in nitrogen species due to the use of amine-based flocculants.
Regarding the relevant environmental areas, the tailings seem to alter
the concentrations of silicates and nitrate in the Costa das Algas Envi­
ronmental Protected Area and Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge – APA/RVS,
but the impact was not clear on the Abrolhos continental shelf. The
stoichiometric increase in nitrogenous nutrients in relation to phos­
phorus and silica is attributed to the iron ore tailings and may lead to an
imbalance in primary productivity and phytoplankton biomass. This is
the only record, as far as is known, focused on the coastal trophic con­
ditions based on dissolved nutrients during the acute and chronic im­
pacts of the Fundão dam rupture, serving as reference values for several
biodiversity monitoring studies that have been developed in the region
since then.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Eduardo Schettini Costa participated in Conceptualization; Sampling
procedures; Data curation; Formal analysis; Methodology; Writing -
original draft; Writing - review & editing.
Renata Caiado Cagnin participated in Data curation; Formal analysis;
Writing - original draft; Writing - review & editing.
Cesar Alexandro da Silva participated in Data curation; Formal
analysis; Writing - review & editing.
Cybelle Menolli Longhini participated in participated in Data cura­
tion; Formal analysis; Writing - original draft; Writing - review &
editing.
Fabian Sá participated in Data curation; Formal analysis; Writing -
review & editing.
Ana Teresa Lima participated in Investigation; Writing - review &
editing.
Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Gomes participated in Conceptualization;
Sampling procedures; Investigation; Writing - review & editing.
Angelo Fraga Bernardino participated in Conceptualization; Funding
acquisition; Investigation; Writing - review & editing.
Renato Rodrigues Neto participated in Conceptualization; Funding
acquisition; Investigation; Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
Dear Francois Galgani, Pat Hutchings and Gui-Peng Yang,
We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest
associated with this publication and there has been financial support by
PELD Coastal Habitats of Espírito Santo (PELD-HCES), by Fundação de
Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Espírito Santo (FAPES), by Coor­
denação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and
by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológic
(CNPq) grants N 77683544/2017 and 301161/2017–8. We confirm that
the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and
that there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship
but are not listed. We further confirm that the order of authors listed in
the manuscript has been approved by all of us. We confirm that we have
given due consideration to the protection of intellectual property asso­
ciated with this work and that there are no impediments to publication,
including the timing of publication, with respect to intellectual property.
In so doing we confirm that we have followed the regulations of our
institutions concerning intellectual property. We understand that the
Corresponding Author is the sole contact for the Editorial process
(including Editorial Manager and direct communications with the of­
fice). She is responsible for communicating with the other authors about
progress, submissions of revisions and final approval of proofs. We
confirm that we have provided a current, correct email address which is
7
Marine Pollution Bulletin 171 (2021) 112725
accessible by the Corresponding Author.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Marinha do Brasil and Instituto Chico
Mendes de Biodiversidade (ICMBio) for supporting the sampling sur­
veys. We are also thankful to Aroldo dos Reis R. Júnior for support in
creating the maps (ArcGIS Pro 2.7.0). LEOG is supported by a PELD-
HCES CNPq graduate scholarship. AFB was supported by FAPES,
CAPES and CNPq grants N 77683544/2017 and 301161/2017–8.
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