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Three hundred and fifty-nine sediment samples taken along the Emilia-Romagna coast were analyzed in order to evaluate how coastal engineering structures affect the quality of the environment. These samples were used since they also represented, on an average time scale, the processes occurring in the water column above them.

A comparison between areas protected by breakwaters and areas without such protection was made so as to verify eutrophic conditions; in doing so, the influence of river mouths was taken into account. The study developed in the course of two years, with surveys repeated at seasonal intervals. Surface bottom sediments were characterized on the basis of their grain size, contents of organic substances and nutrients (P and N compounds), and microbiological parameters. The results reveal contents of organic substances, nutrients and bacteria which gradually increase in the following …