Sediments as archives of industrialisation: Evidence of atmospheric pollution in coastal wetlands of southern Sydney, Australia

The history of heavy metal pollution in southern Sydney was reconstructed from wetland sediments using chemical analysis. Seven wetlands along the Pacific coast were examined for present day concentrations of acid-extractable Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn. Additionally, four of these sites were cored in order to assess past levels of these metal contaminants, changes in organic content and magnetic susceptibility variations. The low nutrient status and closed catchments of the study sites suggested that the pollutants were predominantly derived from atmospheric sources. Surficial sediments were enriched with Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn levels 5.0, 16.4, 22.7, 8.2 and 22.5 times baseline levels, respectively. In some cases, the concentrations of trace metals were in excess of environmentally acceptable levels. The results show a strong spatial association between sources and levels of pollutants, and the increase in metals levels in sedimentary records corresponds well to documentary historical evidence. This study demonstrates the utility of coastal wetlands in the reconstruction of atmospheric pollution histories, and their particular vulnerability to contamination from airborne pollutants in urban areas.