TY - JOUR
T1 - Fluoride content by ion chromatography using a suppressed conductivity detector and osmolality of bitterns discharged into the Pacific Ocean from a saltworks
T2 - Feasible causal agents in the mortality of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, Baja California Sur, Mexico
AU - Tovar, Luis Raúl
AU - Gutiérrez, Ma Eugenia
AU - Cruz, Guillermo
PY - 2002/9/1
Y1 - 2002/9/1
N2 - On December 1997, 94 corpses of green turtles, Chelonia mydas, were found at the Ojo de Liebre lagoon (OLL) adjacent to the industrial operation of Exportadora de Sal S. A (ESSA), the largest saltworks in the world, owned by the Mexican Government and Mitsubishi Corporation, located in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Every year about 551 × 106 m3 of seawater is solar evaporated, producing 7 × 106 tons of salt and 24.6 × 106 m3 of bitterns, the latter being discharged into the OLL, which is a costal lagoon of the Pacific Ocean. ESSA claimed that bitterns contain the same salts present in seawater, but 20-fold more concentrated than the former. Ion chromatography with a conductivity detector and ion suppression was used to determine the F-, Cl-, SO42- and CO32- contents of seawater, brines and bitterns collected at ESSA. Furthermore, the osmolality of brines and bitterns from ESSA was measured. F- content in bitterns was 60.5-fold more than that in seawater. The bitterns osmolality was 11000 mosm/kg of water, whereas the turtle's plasma osmolality was about 400 mosm/kg of water. We concluded that the dumping of bitterns into the ocean should be avoided.
AB - On December 1997, 94 corpses of green turtles, Chelonia mydas, were found at the Ojo de Liebre lagoon (OLL) adjacent to the industrial operation of Exportadora de Sal S. A (ESSA), the largest saltworks in the world, owned by the Mexican Government and Mitsubishi Corporation, located in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Every year about 551 × 106 m3 of seawater is solar evaporated, producing 7 × 106 tons of salt and 24.6 × 106 m3 of bitterns, the latter being discharged into the OLL, which is a costal lagoon of the Pacific Ocean. ESSA claimed that bitterns contain the same salts present in seawater, but 20-fold more concentrated than the former. Ion chromatography with a conductivity detector and ion suppression was used to determine the F-, Cl-, SO42- and CO32- contents of seawater, brines and bitterns collected at ESSA. Furthermore, the osmolality of brines and bitterns from ESSA was measured. F- content in bitterns was 60.5-fold more than that in seawater. The bitterns osmolality was 11000 mosm/kg of water, whereas the turtle's plasma osmolality was about 400 mosm/kg of water. We concluded that the dumping of bitterns into the ocean should be avoided.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036744093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2116/analsci.18.1003
DO - 10.2116/analsci.18.1003
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0910-6340
VL - 18
SP - 1003
EP - 1007
JO - Analytical Sciences
JF - Analytical Sciences
IS - 9
ER -