New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Heavy metal pollution in Wellington Harbour

P. STOFFERS1

G. P. GLASBY2

C. J. WILSON3

K. R. DAVIS1

P. WALTER1

Institut fur Sedimentforschung Universitat Heidelberg Postfach 10 30 20 D-6900 Heidelberg Federal Republic of Germany
2New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Private Bag, Kilbirnie Wellington New Zealand
'Wellington Regional Council P. O. Box 27-242, Wellington New Zealand

Abstract Heavy metal analysis of the < 20 (im fraction of marine sediments from Wellington Harbour and Waiwhetu Stream have shown that the Waiwhetu Stream is easily the most polluted area in the Wellington Harbour system with Pb and Zn in the extremely polluted category and Cu, Cd, and Hg in the moderately to strongly polluted category. These elements have different distributions in the stream sediments reflecting their different sources from adjacent factories. In Wellington Harbour itself, the central basin of the harbour suffers from minimal pollution. Pb, and to a lesser extent Zn and Cu, are the main pollutants and local enrichment of these elements is noted in Lambton Harbour basin, off Pencarrow and Moa Point outfalls, in Evans Bay, and off Petone and Kaiwharawhara. The geochemical data do not enable us to identify the source of the pollutants unambiguously. A summary of the history of waste discharges into the harbour suggests that heavy metal pollution may have been higher in the past.

Keywords heavy metals; pollution; Wellington Harbour; New Zealand; lead; zinc; copper; cadmium; mercury

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1986, Vol. 20: 495-512 Received 6 March 1985; accepted 2 December 1985

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1488K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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