Elsevier

Marine Chemistry

Volume 21, Issue 3, September 1987, Pages 229-248
Marine Chemistry

Research paper
Geochemical associations and post-depositional mobility of heavy metals in coastal sediments: Loch Etive, Scotland

https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4203(87)90061-2Get rights and content

Abstract

Surficial sediments of a Scottish sea loch exhibit enrichment profiles for the minor metals Cu, Pb and Zn. 137Cs data indicate enrichment during the last 20–40 years of deposition. Variations in the onset of enrichment between sites within the fjord, which have similar accumulation rates, infer that whilst the metal inputs may originally have been of an anthropogenic nature the present distribution of the metals in the sediments is controlled by organic matter diagenesis. These processes are especially important within the sulphate reducing zone. This suggestion is supported by the similar behaviour of the heavy metals and I/Corg ratios in the sediments. Diagenetic recycling of Pb may also explain discrepanceis that were observed between 210Pb and 137Cs chronologies. The source and diagenetic remobilisation of these elements is discussed with relation to the fate of anthropogenic metals in coastal sediments.

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