Ecotoxicity assessment of natural attenuation effects at a

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historical dumping site in the western Baltic Sea

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Baltic Sea Research Institute

2005

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Introduction

During the mid-1980s of the past century, extensive seabed monitoring programmes were started to

investigate the distribution of geochemical parameters in surface sediments of major basins of the

western Baltic Sea (Leipe et al., 1998). One result was the discovery of a heavy metal hot spot in

the inner part of the Mecklenburg Bay (Figs. 1 and 2, top) which was readily assumed not to be of

natural origin. The very high concentrations of both heavy metals and PAHs in the centre of the

anomaly clearly indicated an anthropogenic impact. Information on history and sequence of

dumping activities in that area, as well as origin of the material is sparse. Reliable documentation is

not available, and all information at hand is that industrial waste material from several industrial

sources in Lu¨beck city was dumped in this area since the late 1950s, before dumping activities

were stopped in mid-1960s.