The contaminant legacy from historic coastal landfills and their potential as sources of diffuse pollution
The contaminant legacy from historic coastal landfills and their potential as sources of diffuse pollution
Prior to modern environmental regulation landfills in low-lying coastal environments were frequently constructed without leachate control, relying on natural attenuation within inter-tidal sediments to dilute and disperse contaminants reducing environmental impact. With sea level rise and coastal erosion these sites may now pose a pollution risk, yet have received little investigation. This work examines the extent of metal contamination in saltmarsh sediments surrounding a historic landfill in the UK. Patterns of sediment metal data suggest typical anthropogenic pollution chronologies for saltmarsh sediments in industrialised nations. However, many metals were also enriched at depth in close proximity to the landfill boundary and are indicative of a historical leachate plume. Though this total metal load is low, e.g., c. 1200 and 1650 kg Pb and Zn respectively, with > 1000 historic landfills on flood risk or eroding coastlines in the UK this could represent a significant, yet under-investigated, source of diffuse pollution.
Climate change, Metal pollution, Natural attenuation, Saltmarsh, Sediment, Waste
446-455
O'Shea, Francis T.
7562572b-faf1-4d27-a93d-9f97feaa46e3
Cundy, Andrew B.
994fdc96-2dce-40f4-b74b-dc638286eb08
Spencer, Kate L.
f9bb5735-8798-448d-a0ba-a7238d9aac3e
1 March 2018
O'Shea, Francis T.
7562572b-faf1-4d27-a93d-9f97feaa46e3
Cundy, Andrew B.
994fdc96-2dce-40f4-b74b-dc638286eb08
Spencer, Kate L.
f9bb5735-8798-448d-a0ba-a7238d9aac3e
O'Shea, Francis T., Cundy, Andrew B. and Spencer, Kate L.
(2018)
The contaminant legacy from historic coastal landfills and their potential as sources of diffuse pollution.
Marine Pollution Bulletin, 128, .
(doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.047).
Abstract
Prior to modern environmental regulation landfills in low-lying coastal environments were frequently constructed without leachate control, relying on natural attenuation within inter-tidal sediments to dilute and disperse contaminants reducing environmental impact. With sea level rise and coastal erosion these sites may now pose a pollution risk, yet have received little investigation. This work examines the extent of metal contamination in saltmarsh sediments surrounding a historic landfill in the UK. Patterns of sediment metal data suggest typical anthropogenic pollution chronologies for saltmarsh sediments in industrialised nations. However, many metals were also enriched at depth in close proximity to the landfill boundary and are indicative of a historical leachate plume. Though this total metal load is low, e.g., c. 1200 and 1650 kg Pb and Zn respectively, with > 1000 historic landfills on flood risk or eroding coastlines in the UK this could represent a significant, yet under-investigated, source of diffuse pollution.
Text
containment legacy
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 19 December 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 February 2018
Published date: 1 March 2018
Keywords:
Climate change, Metal pollution, Natural attenuation, Saltmarsh, Sediment, Waste
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 419500
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/419500
ISSN: 0025-326X
PURE UUID: 9cf61712-e138-4f88-83dd-ce0dce3d7b98
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 13 Apr 2018 16:30
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:32
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Francis T. O'Shea
Author:
Kate L. Spencer
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
