Critical analysis of radiochemical methodologies for the assessment of sediment pollution and dynamics in the lagoon of Venice (Italy)

Aquatic sediments are the ultimate sink of wastes dispersed in freshwater and soil. They are therefore a useful tool for investigating polluted ecosystems. Lagoon environments are very difficult to study due to their unstable morphology. Under these circumstances, even an excellent environmental investigation of a restricted lagoon area would still be inadequate to appreciate the characteristics of the entire system. The Venice lagoon is a very complex ecosystem whose morphology is complicated further by extensive anthropic intervention. A good environmental representation of the area was obtained with a preliminary radiochemical survey of airborne radionuclides, a unique tool in evaluating the homogeneity of the entire sedimentary system. It must be stressed, however, that the significance of the data depends substantially on the use of qualified procedures. Based on this, a detailed study was carried out on selected homogeneous areas, reconstructing the inventories and fluxes of pollutants in the sediments. In this work the radiochemical approach to the environmental study of the Venice lagoon is examined.