The distribution of metals with depth in sediment cores sampled from industrialized estuaries can reveal long-term trends in loadings to the waterbody. Salt marsh cores were sampled from five locations from the head to the mouth of Narragansett Bay and from one location from a marsh inside a lagoon on the coast of Block Island Sound with the intent of reconstructing historical loadings of Pb, Cu, and Zn to this estuary. Concentrations of Fe and Mn were measured as indicators of redox conditions of the sediment column. Chronologies were developed using accretion rates determined previously from Pb-210 analyses of the same cores. Excess metal inventories and enrichment over pre-industrial concentrations were greater in upper bay cores reflecting the location of sources at the head of the estuary. The bay cores were similar with respect to the distributions of Cu, Pb, and Zn. Concentrations of all metals began to increase over background levels at depths corresponding approximately to the year 1900. Most of the cores showed peak concentrations of Cu and Pb in the early 1950s and 1970s. Distributions of Zn were more variable among cores, showing peaks in the early 1920s in some cores and in the 1950s and 1970s in others. In general, the observed distributions in the bay cores are consistent with estimated long-term trends in loadings from atmospheric and sewage sources. The metal distributions in the lagoon core appear to reflect atmospheric loadings. However, there are features in some cores that are not explainable using the estimated trends in source inputs. There also is not a 1:1 correspondence between changes in sediment metal concentrations and changes in loadings. It is likely that this method of reconstruction would benefit from a more detailed characterization of sources, but comparison of sediment and historical records do show that attempts to reduce loadings to the bay have been successful.
