RT journal article
T1 A Preliminary Approximation to Microbiological Beach Sand Quality along the Coast of the Department of Atlántico (Caribbean Sea of Colombia): Influence of the Magdalena River
A1 Bolívar-Anillo, Hernando José
A1 Soto-Varela, Zamira E.
A1 Sánchez Moreno, Hernando
A1 Villate Daza, Diego Andrés
A1 Rosado-Porto, David
A1 Vega Benites, Shersy
A1 Pichón González, Camila
A1 Anfuso Melfi, Giorgio
A2 Ciencias de la Tierra
K1 E. coli
K1 Enterococcus spp.
K1 C. perfringens
K1 beach face sediments
K1 backshore sediments
K1 beach typology
AB Beaches represent important economic resources linked to “Sun, Sea and Sand” tourism and, therefore, their water quality constitutes an issue of great relevance especially in developing countries. The main objective of this work was to determine the microbial quality of beach sediments along the Caribbean coast of the Department of Atlántico (Colombia) and its relationships with the existence of local sources of contamination (e.g., streams containing wastewaters), beach exposition to waves, the quantity of beach visitors—which is reflected by beach typology (e.g., urban, rural, etc.), the presence of tourist activities/infrastructures and the beach sand sedimentological characteristics. Along the study area, samples of beach sediments were gathered in beach face and backshore areas at 11 sectors and the microbiological counts of three faecal indicator bacteria, i.e., Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp. and Clostridium perfringens, were determined. A homogeneous distribution was recorded along the coast of Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens in both beach face and backshore sediments, in the order of 5 and 2 log CFU/100 mL, respectively; Enterococcus spp. was, at places, not observed in backshore sediments. No relationships existed between, on one side, the counts of the faecal indicator bacteria considered and, on the other side, the presence of streams and tourist activities/infrastructures, beach typology, exposition to waves and the sedimentological characteristics of beach sands. Such results suggest a chronic contamination of beach face and backshore sediments linked to the heavily polluted sedimentological load of the Magdalena River.
PB MDPI
SN 2073-4441
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31740
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31740
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-may-2026