Assessment of land influence on a high-latitude marine coastal system: Tierra del Fuego, southernmost Argentina

Abstract

The study deals with the determination of physico-chemical parameters, inorganic nutrients, particulate organic matter, and photosynthetic pigments on a monthly basis during an annual cycle from nine sampling sites of the coastal zone of a high-latitude ecosystem (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). Nitrites and phosphates concentrations were similar to other systems of the south Atlantic coast (median, 0.30 and 1.02 μM, respectively), while nitrates were higher in all sampling periods (median, 45.37 μM), and silicates were significantly smaller (median, 7.76 μM). Chlorophyll a and phaeopigments have shown median values of 0.38 and 0.85 mg m-3, respectively, while saturated values of dissolved oxygen were recorded throughout the study. The analysis reflected that nutrient enrichment seems to be linked to an anthropogenic source, the presence of peatlands areas, and a sink of Nothofagus pumilio woods. The area could be characterized in three zones related to (1) high urban influence, (2) natural inputs of freshwater, and (3) mixed inputs coming from moderate urban impacts.