Publication Date:
2018-09-04
Description:
The pollution history of the metals iron, chromium, nickel, cobalt, zinc, lead, copper, cadmium, and mercury in a sediment profile from the German Bight (southeastern part of the North Sea; Förstner & Reineck, 1974) has been re-interpreted according to new radiometric age data from 210Pb and 137Cs concentrations. Between two units of relative uniform sedimentation - approx. 18 mm/y at 7-19 cm sediment depth and approx. 16 mm/y for the core section from 28-50 cm - a major hiatus and an interval of abnormally low sedimentation rate has been detected (19-28 cm) indicating that sediments deposited at the beginning of the century are directly covered by the most recent sediments. Contamination by Zn, Pb, Cu, Cd and Hg has increased since the second half of the last century, probably due to higher metal inputs from both fossil fuel burning and sewage effluents. The more recent increase of iron, chromium, nickel, and cobalt is possibly related to the dumping of acid iron waste from titanium oxide production.
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
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