A pollution history of Chesapeake Bay

Abstract

Present day anthropogenic fluxes of some heavy metals to central Chesapeake Bay appear to be intermediate to those of the southern California coastal region and those of Narragansett Bay. The natural fluxes, however, are in general higher. On the bases of Pb-210 and Pu-239 + 240 geochronologies and of the time changes in interstitial water compositions, there is a mixing of the upper 30 or so centimeters of the sediments in the mid-Chesapeake Bay area through bioturbation by burrowing mollusks and polychaetes. Coal, coke and charcoal levels reach one percent or more by dry weight in the deposits, primarily as a consequence of coal mining operations. © 1978.