Congratulations to Amonda El Houssainy (CEM team) who defended her thesis on 02 October 2020.

Defense scheduled for October 2, 2020 at 14H in the Commission Room of the IUT - Bat A (Toulon Campus).
Link renater to attend: http://desktop.visio.renater.fr/scopia?ID=726710***9962&autojoin
Title : Contributions and sedimentary geochemistry of metallic trace elements in two urbanized Mediterranean coastal areas : Beirut (Lebanon) and Toulon (France)
Jury:
Mrs. Elbaz-Poulichet Françoise, Research Director, University of Montpellier, Rapporteur
Mr. Gagné Jean-Pierre, Professor, Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Rapporteur
Mr. Billon Gabriel, Professor, University of Lille 1, Examiner
Mrs. Grosbois Cécile, Professor, University of Tours, Examiner
Mr. Schäfer Jörg, Professor, University of Bordeaux, Examiner
Ms. Abi-Ghanem Carine, Senior Lecturer, Lebanese University, Co-supervisor
M. Garnier Cédric†, Senior Lecturer-HDR, University of Toulon, Co-director
Mr. Khalaf Gaby, Professor, CNRS - Lebanon, Co-Director
Mr. Mounier Stéphane, Senior Lecturer-HDR, University of Toulon, Co-Director

The summary: The Mediterranean Sea (MS) is a semi-enclosed sea divided into two basins: the Western Basin and the Eastern Basin. The two Mediterranean sites studied in this thesis are respectively located in each basin: Toulon Bay (northwest of MS and southeast of France) and St-Georges Bay (east of MS, Lebanon). Both sites are subject to high population density along the coast and are exposed to numerous anthropogenic activities (such as tourism, shipping, aquaculture, wastewater discharges and industrial activities) contaminating the environment (water column, sediments, biota, etc.) with various pollutants such as trace metal and metalloid elements (TMEM). Each site is characterized by the presence of an urbanized river: the Las (France) and the Beirut River (Lebanon). Sediments are considered as a secondary source of pollution due to biogeochemical processes influencing the mobility of MTME in sediments. In this context, the objectives of this thesis are (1) to study the contamination of MTME along the rivers and in the two bays; (2) to elucidate the influence of early diagenesis on the mobility of MTME; and (3) to characterize the sedimentary organic matter in the two sites. For these reasons, surficial sediments, sediment cores, surface and pore water were collected along both rivers and at both sites during the period 2016 - 2018. The sediment and water samples were analyzed for their main physical parameters, nutrients, organic carbon (dissolved and particulate) and major/trace elements. The results showed that early diagenesis processes strongly control the mobility of ETMM in sediments. Moreover, the results confirmed that Toulon harbour is heavily contaminated following World War II but also contemporary activities, and that Las inputs do not significantly contribute to or affect the sediments of Toulon Bay. As for the bay of St-Georges, we found that it is impacted by several activities (industrial effluents discharged without treatment, runoff from the agricultural zone) transported by the Beirut River and/or by direct inputs (coastal discharge).