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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Atmospheric Lead Deposition into Guarapina Lagoon, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

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The rate of anthropogenic mobilization of heavy metals is higher than the natural supply to the sedimentary environments. I n rivers, lakes and various other terrestrial areas, the drastic increase of heavy metals has been accredited to human activity (Tyler 1972). Erlenkeuser et al. (1974) suggest that Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu in the upper sediment sequence of sediment cores collected from Kiel Bight in the Baltic Sea, are the result of fossil fuel use in industries. Such assemblages have been identified in North America by Goldberg et al. (1977, 1979) from both coastal regions. Sediment cores taken from the deepest part of lakes and lagoons have been analysed to study the historical development of environmental contamination (Forstner and Muller 1974; Molnar et al. 1978; Nriagu et al. 1979). Norton et al. (1981) determined heavy metals in high altitude lakes on the east coast of the United States and attributed Zn and Pb accumulations in the sediment cores to the atmospheric precipitation. Deposition in lakes, away from any industrial activity, has been attributed to transportation by winds over long distances (Davis and Galloway 1981). The present study deals with the distribution of heavy metals in cores of various sedimentary environments of Guarapina lagoon.