ABSTRACT
Intertidal mudflats are sites of deposition from upstream of suspended particulate materials along with an array of contaminant chemicals that reflect the industrial activities of the past 20 years. In strongly (Seine estuary) and weakly (Authie bay) anthropogenically affected sites, one way to assess the quality of the environment is by analysis of the contaminants in the sediments, although such measures do not directly predict metal toxicity effects on aquatic animals (Luoma 1983; Luoma 1989; Di Toro et al. 1990; Luoma 1995). However, studying the distribution of metals among geochemical phases is an important step in forecasting their ultimate fate, bioavailability, and toxicities (Salomons and Förstner 1980, 1984).
