Foraminifera as an Indicator of Marine Pollution

Sediment samples from five stations at the Shihwa Lake sewage outfall, west coast of Korea, were collected to evaluate the effect of the outfall on benthic foraminifera. Heavy metal (Cu and Zn) polluted eastern part of the Shihwa Lake, adjacent to the Shihwa-Banwol Industrial Complexes, shows barren or nearly barren of benthic foraminifera, and the lowest number of species both at the core top and downcore. Excepting for the barren zone, pyritized benthic foraminifera abundantly occur both at the surface and downcore sediments in the western part of the Shihwa Lake, suggesting that foraminiferal disease by anoxic bacteria. Recent intrusion of pollutants from the Shihwa-Banwol Industrial Complexes and adjacent six major streams severely polluted the Shihwa Lake as shown by the low abundance (number/10 g) of benthic foraminifera, low number of A. beccarii, low species diversity, and absence of both Elphidium spp. and ostracodes at the surface sediments compared to the downcore. Except the barren zone, both pyritized and non-pyritized Ammonia beccarii occur dominantly in the surface sediments and downcore. Elphidium spp. (either pyritized or non-pyritized) do not occur in the surface sediments of whole stations. However, they occur from the entire downcore sediments except in the eastern part of Shihwa Lake. Arenaceous foraminifera do not inhabit in the heavily polluted areas as evidenced by the occurrence of relatively deep core depth (11-50 cm). Ostracodes occur at the downcore sediments, but they do not occur at the surface sediments. Ostracodes also do not occur at the heavily polluted areas in the eastern part of the Shihwa Lake both at the surface and downcore sediments, indicating that the abundance of ostracodes also can be used for a pollution indicator.