Integrated Ecological Assessment of Heavily Polluted Sedimentary Basin within the Broader Industrialized Area of Thriassion Plain (Western Attica, Greece)
Panayota Makri, Demetrios Hermides, George Kontakiotis, Stergios D. Zarkogiannis, Evangelia Besiou, Hammad Tariq Janjuhah, Assimina Antonarakou
Abstract
The Thriassion Plain, the Saronikos Gulf and Eleusis Bay, Western Attica in Greece, receive pressures from the enormous industrial activity, as well as the Athens metropolitan area and the Piraeus port. Therefore, it is considered as brownfield in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The multi-component industrial activity has impacted the soil, the groundwater of Thriassion Plain and the coastal marine sediments of the adjacent Eleusis Bay, part of Saronikos Gulf as well as a brackish lagoon, Koumoundourou Lake. The industrial activity is expressed by high contents of metals, and oil products. This study presents the pollution record of selected published papers that indicate the temporal evolution of legislated polluting compounds, supporting researchers to provide solutions and policy makers to focus on the whole spectrum of potential policy alternatives.