Historical records of atmospheric metal deposition along the St. Lawrence Valley (eastern Canada) based on peat bog cores

Abstract

The recent history of atmospheric As, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn deposition and the stable Pb isotope signatures were reconstructed from short cores collected at three peat bogs along the St. Lawrence Valley (SLV). The onset of industrial activity was recorded around 1810–1850 AD. As, Cd, Pb and, to a certain extent, Ni deposition rates reached maxima between 1940 and the early 1970s. Trace metals likely originated from coal-burning and ore smelting between 1850 and 1950 AD, and were replaced thereafter, at least in the case of Pb, by the combustion of leaded gasolines until the mid-1980s. Trace metal contents and accumulation rates were greater in the two cores recovered from the southwestern SLV than further northeast, as expected from their proximity to urban and industrial centers of eastern Canada and the U.S. Mid-West and the direction of the prevalent winds. A rapid decrease in metal accumulation rates since the 1970s suggests that mitigation policies were effective in reducing atmospheric metal emissions. Nevertheless, metal accumulation rates and stable Pb isotope signatures have not yet returned to their pre-industrial values.