Acute toxicity of pH-adjusted deep-sea sediment elutriates to Artemia sp.

Authors: Alexandra Warkentin, Miguel Jorge Lourenço Domingos, Tomas Makaras, Caio Cesar Ribeiro 

Affiliations: ECHO – Ecotoxicology and Chemical Oceanography Group, Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal. 

Abstract: Deep-sea mineral-resource exploration may disturb sulfide deposits and sediments, creating a need for practical methods to screen the potential effects of released material. This study assessed the acute toxicity of pH-adjusted elutriates prepared from deep-sea materials using Artemia sp. as a rapid screening organism. Survival was recorded across three elutriate treatments, with mortality varying among samples. The highest recorded mortality was 96.7% for one elutriate treatment; other sample-treatment combinations ranged from no recorded mortality to 90%. These preliminary observations indicate differences in acute effects among the tested elutriates and support further testing with representative marine species. Using Artemia provides an accessible first-tier approach for comparing samples and prioritising follow-up ecotoxicological analyses. The study demonstrates how aquatic research infrastructure can support biological screening of materials relevant to seabed disturbance and contribute evidence for environmental monitoring and assessment. 

Keywords: deep-sea sediments, elutriates, pH adjustment, Artemia, acute toxicity, seabed disturbance