Sedimentary record of environmental pollution in the Western Baltic Sea

The chronological development of environmental pollution in the Western Baltic Sea for the past hundred years was investigated in dated sediment cores. An artificial radionuclide (¹³⁷Cs), nutrients, heavy metals, chlorinated hydrocarbons (PCB, DDT, Lindane) and plasticizers (phthalate esters) show characteristic distribution patterns within the various cores. They can be related to the production and use of specific chemicals and goods, to emissions associated with the increased combustion of coal parallel to industrialization and —in the case of ¹³⁷Cs — to emissions associated with atomic weapons tests in the high atmosphere. Characteristic trends in the general development of pollution may be superimposed by specific emissions from local sources.