Historical pollution trends in coastal environments of India

Seventeen sediment cores were collected from different coastal ecosystems of Tamil Nadu, India that include coastal lagoon (Pulicat), polluted rivers in Chennai (Adyar and Cooum), Coral reef (Gulf of Mannar) and a perennial river (Tamiraparani). Radiometric dating has been used to determine the modern sedimentation rates in these ecosystems. The Pulicat Lake and the polluted rivers (Adyar and Cooum) yield an average sediment accumulation rate of 12.34 and 7.85 mm yr(-1), respectively. In the Gulf of Mannar coral reef, the sedimentation rate averages 17.37 mm yr(-1), while the rate in Tamiraparani River is 11.00 mm yr(-1). In the Tamiraparani River basin, the deposition rates were an order of magnitude higher when compared to the erosion rates, which may be due to bank erosion and the intense human activity. In general high rates of sedimentation observed in the coastal ecosystems not only reflect the capacity of the coastal regions as sinks for trace metals but also denote increased input of pollutants into the coastal environments in the recent past. The deposition rates of heavy metals--Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr and Ni in the depth profiles have been computed using sedimentation rates and their distribution is discussed. It can be seen that the mean deposition rates of all the measured elements in the Tamil Nadu coastal ecosystems are high compared with rates determined for the sediments of the deltaic regions of India and the Bay of Bengal.