New Insights to Coastal Zone Environmental Pollution, Ecosystem Disturbance and Remediation

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Background

Mega-structures, like power plants, shipyards, seawater desalination plants, and LNG (liquefied natural gas) bases have been constructed intensively along coastlines. While maintaining these facilities, a huge amount of hazardous substances, cooling water (potentially causing thermal pollution), and exotic microorganisms are discharged into the inshore area and cause serious marine pollution and ecosystem disturbance. As metal corrosivity and marine-adhesive organisms in seawater cause problems to coastal and offshore installation performance, corrosion-resistant materials are used to manufacturing utilities. Furthermore, anti-fouling paint is used for the facilities and must be cleaned periodically using strong oxidants to control surface biofouling by marine organisms. Particularly, due to intensive anthropogenic inshore activities, discharged pollutants have become complex, emerging as a new marine environmental and ecological threat globally, but their seriousness has not been sufficiently investigated. For instance, in ship-hull cleaning, toxic chemicals, like anti-biofouling paints, disinfectant discharge, heavy metals, cleaning oxidants, microplastic and exotic marine microorganisms are discharged into the sea. All these leads to new challenges in marine pollution and ecosystem disturbance, thereby warranting effective solutions.

This Research Topic aims to better understand the threats of pollution on marine ecosystem functioning. Particular attention is given to a proper maintenance of coastal and offshore facilities (e.g., power plants, desalination plants, port facilities, ship maintenance equipment, and LNG base). Therefore, the latest systematic problem-solving research is encouraged in terms of environmental, ecological, and policy perspectives by comprehensively examining pollution problems newly raised from aforementioned facilities, which have been separately dealt with in the past. Laboratory and field research on the impacts of the marine environment and ecosystem, by maintaining the facilities, and conducting review studies are encouraged. This Research Topic will also cover the implications of marine pollution, hull cleaning, microplastic disposal, industrial discharge and treatment, and bioremediation technologies. Furthermore, ecosystem risk assessment and pollution mitigation strategies are subject of this Research Topic. High-quality original research studies, review articles, and short communications are invited, particularly on the following topics:
• Impact of cleaning chemicals, strong oxidants, anti-biofouling paints, and corroded metal particles from inshore infrastructure on marine ecosystems.
• Marine pollutants and their toxicity released during the hull cleaning process.
• Treatment and management of effluents from thermal power plants, industrial plants, and desalination plants (e.g., brine discharged from desalination plants or thermal pollution from power plants).
• Strong oxidants, such as chlorine or hydroxide, released into seawater during the sterilization processes (e.g., ballast water treatment or hull cleaning).
• Effects of exotic marine microorganisms and marine larvae maintained at the facility.
• The role of marine microorganisms in the remediation of inshore/offshore pollution.
• Coastal pollution and remediation technologies and policies.
• Heavy metals and microplastic pollution in coastal wetlands.
• Assessment of emerging contaminants in coastal areas.
• Life cycle analysis and environmental impact assessment of coastal pollution on ecosystems.
• Marine pollution risk assessment.

Keywords: heavy metal contamination, antifouling, hull cleaning, cleaning chemicals, microplastics, brine, Inshore pollution, Marine pollution and remediation, Marine ecosystem disturbance, Marine microorganism, Thermal pollution

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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