The role of pollution versus natural geological sources for lead enrichment in recent lake sediments and surface forest soils

Abstract.

This paper assesses the role of airborne pollution and natural geological sources for lead enrichment in lake sediments and in surface soils of boreal forests. This assessment is based on analyses of stable lead isotopes (²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁷Pb) and lead concentrations in sediment cores (>30 lakes), ombrotrophic peat and soil samples in Sweden. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio and concentration profiles in the sediment cores change synchronously over the last 3,000 years in different lakes, temporal concentration changes in sediments and peat deposits are very consistent, and these temporal concentration changes coincide well with the history of lead production in Europe. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio is almost the same in all soil mor samples (1.152±0.009; n=94), and similar to values recorded in aerosols, despite very high and different ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio of the mineral soil in the C-horizon (1.3–1.7). This study provides evidence that lead enrichment in recent sediments and peat, and in the mor layer are caused by deposition of pollution lead and not natural processes.