Heavy Metal Pollution of the Romanian Coastal Area

Black Sea pollution is an important issue which has significant effects on human health and aquatic life. Therefore, the pollution monitoring is very important. The aim of this study was to assess the marine ecosystem in terms of heavy metal contamination (Cu, Cd, Pb, Ni and Cr) at the Romanian coastal area in the 1996-2012 periods for Cu, Cd, Pb and in the 2004-2012 periods for Ni, Cr. The quantitative analysis of heavy metals is based on the information's provided by the National Institute for Marine Research and Development Grigore Antipa Constanta, as a result of research conducted within the integrated monitoring program. For this study were used the annual average concentrations recorded values of the heavy metals, on two areas of analysis: sea water and marine sediments. The obtained data were compared with the maximum allowable values for each category of analyzed heavy metals.