In the Alberta oil sands region, insufficient knowledge of pre-disturbance reference conditions has undermined the ability of the Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP) to detect pollution of the Athabasca River, because sampling began three decades after the industry started and the river naturally erodes oil-bearing strata.

Marine debris, mostly consisting of plastic, is a global problem, negatively impacting wildlife, tourism and shipping. However, despite the durability of plastic, and the exponential increase in its production, monitoring data show limited evidence of concomitant increasing concentrations in marine habitats. There appears to be a considerable proportion of the manufactured plastic that is unaccounted for in surveys tracking the fate of environmental plastics.

Along the continental margins, rivers and submarine groundwater supply nutrients, trace elements, and radionuclides to the coastal ocean, supporting coastal ecosystems and, increasingly, causing harmful algal blooms and eutrophication. While the global magnitude of gauged riverine water discharge is well known, the magnitude of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is poorly constrained.

Following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico an unprecedented quantity of oil irrupted into the ocean at a depth of 1.5 km. The novelty of this event makes the oil’s subsequent fate in the deep ocean difficult to predict. This work identifies a fallout plume of hydrocarbons from the Macondo Well contaminating the ocean floor over an area of 3,200 km2. Our analysis suggests the oil initially was suspended in deep waters and then settled to the underlying sea floor.

Antibiotics are emerging environmental contaminants, causing both short-term and long-term alterations of natural microbial communities due to their high biological activities. The antibiotic resistance pattern of bacteria from anthropogenic polluted Oluwa River, Nigeria was carried out. Microbial profiling and antibiotic sensitivity tests were carried out on water and sediment samples using 13 different antibiotics. Microorganisms isolated include those in the genera Bacillus, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Proteus and Staphylococcus.

The present study reports on a systematic procedure and maintenance plan for conducting dredging activity at the Kolkata port located in the Head Bay region, east coast of India. It is one of the oldest riverine ports in the country constructed by the British East India Company.

In recent decades, coral reef ecosystems have declined to the extent that reefs are now threatened globally. While many water quality parameters have been proposed to contribute to reef declines, little evidence exists conclusively linking specific water quality parameters with increased disease prevalence in situ. Here we report evidence from in situ coral health surveys confirming that chronic exposure to dredging-associated sediment plumes significantly increase the prevalence of white syndromes, a devastating group of globally important coral diseases.