Barcola Bovedo

The regional variability of some geochemical parameters in the Gulf of Trieste is considered in terms of their relationship with Al, used as a normalization factor. Baselines calculated from these relationships are used to determine a simple enrichment factor for each element, defined as the ratio between the actual and predicted baseline value. The normalization procedure permits a new non dimensional reference vaseline to be obtained that could help to assess the size of possible anomalies and to provide information on the diffusion and dispersion patterns of pollutants inside the monitored area.

Some regional geochemical functions were calculated for the Gulf of Trieste (Italy) in order to obtain a baseline to use in enrichment factor (EF) determination. The quality of the method was tested in a coastal area near a disposal site for inert wastes, using also some widely used and local background values. The EFs determined using regional functions show a good correspondence with the function related to local pre-industrial background values, whereas Turekian & Wedepohl's (1961) and Taylor's (1964) data tend to overestimate the degree of contamination. The EFs areal distribution also permitted to point out a Zn, Cu, and Pb enriched sector, located further south than the disposal site, whose contamination cannot be related to heavy metal releases from the landfill.