Temporal Changes in Ecological Status in Vestfjorden, Inner Oslofjord, Norway
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Temporal changes in ecological status in Vestfjorden, inner Oslofjord, Norway Gerald L. Decelles III Institute of Geosciences The Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences UNIVERSITY OF OSLO 06/2019 Temporal changes in ecological status in Vestfjorden, inner Oslofjord, Norway Gerald L. Decelles III Master Thesis Environmental geology – environmental stratigraphy 60 credits Institute of Geosciences The Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences UNIVERSITY OF OSLO 06/2019 © Gerald L. Decelles III 2019 Temporal changes in ecological status in Vestfjorden, inner Oslofjord, Norway Gerald L. Decelles III http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo Abstract The inner Oslofjord has undergone many changes in ecological quality throughout time. The Vestfjorden Avløpsselskap (VEAS) wastewater treatment plant has been involved in these changes with a generally positive effect. Given current analytical tools (CTD, total organic carbon (TOC), trace metals (TM), foraminifera, current meters), assessment of the impact (ecologically) that VEAS is having on the benthic zone surrounding the discharge pipes was conducted in fall 2017. This study found an incongruity in ecological quality between benthic areas north and south of the discharge area. Based on sample collected in 2018, the work of this thesis looked to confirm this discrepancy, add temporal markers to tie data collected at this site with data from the rest of the inner Oslofjord, assess the efficacy of foraminifera as indicators of ecological status, and search for a possible mechanism for discrepancy by studying current and circulation regimes in the area near the VEAS discharge. While unable to confirm the data values found in TM analysis in 2017 or the impact of currents in the area on the discharge regime, radiometric dating of a new core placed the changes seen in the area around VEAS in temporal context with what has happened to the inner Oslofjord as a whole. Additionally, discrepancies between values from different cores taken from the “same” location have led to better understanding of random and systemic methodological errors in analysis of samples specifically TOC and trace metals. Finally, foraminifera analysis along with dating of the core supports other research on the effectiveness of these organisms as indicators of ecological quality. ii Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors Elisabeth Alve and Silvia Hess for enthusiastically and willingly sharing their knowledge with me over the course of this master’s study. Both were always available to me, constantly taking time out of their own work to answer my questions and were supportive throughout my time at UiO. I would like to thank Mufak Said Naroz and Magnus Kristoffersen of the UiO Geosciences Department for their technical support in the laboratory. I am also grateful to the crew on FF Trygve Braarud, particularly the captain Sindre Holm and Jan Sundøy for their assistance and insight over several cruises. Special thanks also to Stefan Rothe for taking the time to work with me on QGIS and expand my understanding of GIS applications, you are a great teacher. Thanks to Aivo Lepland and NGU for use of the Oslofjord bathymetry data. Thanks also to Anouk Tosca Klootwijk for helpful input and assistance. My gratitude to SIS for giving me the time to pursue this goal. I must also recognize the members of the BIO 4301 class, specifically Alia, Ask, Brita, Even, Gordon, Katharine, Lars, Malin, Martine, Newt, Ragnild, Ulrik, Victor and others who made my time at UiO a much more enjoyable experience. I hope we keep in touch. Thank you to my proofreaders Chris and Andrew for taking the time to make this thesis better. A very special thankyou to my partner Nina for her help and for supporting me during this long process. Without you I would not have made it to the end. Finally, I must recognize my mother, who passed away suddenly at the start of this process. I have needed the strength and wisdom she bestowed in me many times during these last two years. I hope that she would be proud. iii Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 2 Study area ................................................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Inner Oslofjord ................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Fjord mixing and currents ................................................................................................ 8 2.3 History and pollution ...................................................................................................... 10 2.4 VEAS ............................................................................................................................. 12 3 Materials and methods ........................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Sample collection and preparations................................................................................ 15 3.2 Sediment radiometric dating .......................................................................................... 17 3.3 Total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrogen (TN) ............................................................. 17 3.4 Metal analyses ................................................................................................................ 18 3.5 Micropaleontology analysis ........................................................................................... 18 3.6 Circulation current analysis ............................................................................................ 21 3.7 Reliability of analyses techniques .................................................................................. 22 4 Results ................................................................................................................................... 23 4.1 Sediment radiometric dating .......................................................................................... 24 4.2 Total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrogen (TN) ............................................................. 27 4.3 Metals analysis ............................................................................................................... 29 4.4 Reliability of analyses techniques .................................................................................. 31 4.5 Micropaleontology ......................................................................................................... 36 4.6 Circulation currents in the VEAS discharge area........................................................... 40 5 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 41 5.1 Validation of 2017 core results ...................................................................................... 41 5.2 Correlation with other work in the inner Oslofjord........................................................ 46 iv 5.3 VEAS impact on the area ............................................................................................... 49 5.4 Efficacy of foraminifera as biological indicators ........................................................... 52 6 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 54 References ..................................................................................................................................... 56 Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 60 Appendix A: Sediment core data .............................................................................................. 60 Appendix B: CTD raw data ....................................................................................................... 67 Appendix C: Radiometric dating report .................................................................................... 81 Appendix D: Total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrogen (TN) raw and processed data ............ 88 Appendix E: Trace metals raw and processed data ................................................................... 91 Appendix F: Reliability of analyses raw and processed data .................................................... 95 Appendix G: Micropaleontological raw and processed data .................................................. 102 Table of Figures Figure 2.1 Map of study area depicting location relative to Oslo and the Drøbak sill (inset map), along with general bathymetry of the study area (main map) courtesy of data provided by Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse (2018) and sampling locations (table 2 for exact coordinates) in relation to the VEAS discharge pipe network. ................................................................................ 5 Figure 2.2 Map locations of sites sampled for Fagrådet (left) along with historical data for dissolved oxygen concentrations for site Dk1 (in blue – 90m depth) and Ep1 (in red – 80m depth in Bekkelage basin) from Fagrådet’s year report (2017). ............................................................... 6 Figure 2.3 CTD measurement graph for oxygen (left) from study area site V-93-NE2 taken on 3 May