Baltic Sea sediments record anthropogenic loads of Cd, Pb, and Zn
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Baltic Sea sediments record anthropogenic loads of Cd, Pb, and Zn Sina Shahabi-Ghahfarokhi 1 Marcelo Ketzer 1
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Sarah Josefsson 2
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Anna Apler 2
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Karsten Kalbitz 3
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Mats Åström 1
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Received: 2 December 2019 / Accepted: 3 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The unsustainable settlement and high industrialization around the catchment of the Baltic Sea has left records of anthropogenic heavy metal contamination in Baltic Sea sediments. Here, we show that sediments record post-industrial and anthropogenic loads of Cd, Zn, and Pb over a large spatial scale in the Baltic Sea. We also demonstrate that there is a control on the accumulation of these metals in relation to oxic/anoxic conditions of bottom waters. The total concentrations of Cd, Zn, and Pb were obtained with the near-total digestion method in thirteen cores collected from the Bothnian Bay, the Bothnian Sea, and the west and central Baltic Proper. The lowest average concentrations of Cd, Zn, and Pb were observed in Bothnian Bay (0.4, 125, 40.2 mg kg−1 DW, respectively). In contrast, the highest concentrations were observed in the west Baltic Proper (5.5, 435, and 56.6 mg kg−1 DW, respectively). The results indicate an increasing trend for Cd, Zn, and Pb from the early nineteenth century until the 1970s, followed by a decrease until 2000–2008. However, surface sediments still have concentrations above the pre-industrial values suggested by the Swedish EPA (Cd is 0.2, Zn is 85, and Pb is 31 mg kg−1 DW). The results also show that the preindustrial Cd, Zn, and Pb concentrations obtained from 3 cores with ages < 1500 B.C. were 1.8, 1.7, and 1.2 times higher, respectively, than the pre-industrial values suggested by the Swedish EPA. To conclude, accumulations of metals in the Baltic Sea are governed by anthropogenic load and the redox conditions of the environment. The significance of correct environmental governance (measures) can be illustrated with the reduction in the pollution of Pb, Zn, and Cd within the Baltic Sea since the 1980s. Keywords Marine pollution . Heavy metals . Baltic Sea . Geochemistry . Cadmium . Zinc . Lead
Introduction Anthropogenic metal inputs are reported from seas and coastlines worldwide, e.g., in the East China Sea (Daoji and Daler 2004), Caspian Sea (Bastami et al. 2015; Abadi et al. 2019), Yumurtalik coast (Aytekin et al. 2019), North-East Atlantic (Rodrigues et al. 2009), Greenland Sea (Neff 2002a), North Sea, Mediterranean, Responsible editor: Vedula VSS Sarma * Sina Shahabi-Ghahfarokhi [email protected] 1
Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Linnaeus University, Stuvaregatan 2, 39231 Kalmar, Sweden
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Geological Survey of Sweden, Uppsala, Sweden
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Soil Resources and Land Use, Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
Black Sea, and Baltic Sea (Tornero and Hanke 2016). Heavy metals can be toxic to humans/animals and are incorporated into the sea food web through water, food,
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