Human Biogeochemistry, Chapter

This chapter describes the main physical characteristics of the Ebro River, including the watershed orography, the biogeography and vegetation, the climatic and hydrological characteristics, and the soil type and biogeochemistry of river Ebro waters. The Ebro watershed has historically served as nucleus and connection for humans human settlements are known since pre-historic years and nowadays the river water chemistry cannot be understood without the anthropogenic effects. Therefore, the potential effects of human activities at the Ebro watershed are analyzed. 

The biogeochemistry of organic pollutants in marine systems is of enormous economic and environmental Impact. The environmental behavior of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB s) has been studied rather extensively because of their detrimental effects on human health and on living marine resources (30-32). As discussed in the chapters by J.W. Farrington et, due to recent advances in gas capillary chromotographic methods, it is now possible to study the biogeochemistry of individual PCB s rather than that of combined industrial mixtures of PCB s (33-36). In order to realistically assess the risks to animal health, it is important to be able to work with individual PCB levels rather than with unresolved mixtures because individual PCB s can vary greatly in terms of toxicity (37). 

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