Article Local to regional scale industrial heavy metal pollution recorded in sediments of large freshwater lakes in central Europe (lakes Geneva and Lucerne) over the last centuries THEVENON, Florian, et al. Reference THEVENON, Florian, et al. Local to regional scale industrial heavy metal pollution recorded in sediments of large freshwater lakes in central Europe (lakes Geneva and Lucerne) over the last centuries. Science of the Total Environment, 2011, vol. 412-413, p. 239-247 DOI : 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.025 Available at: http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:17728 Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version. 1 / 1 This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. 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Forel, University of Geneva, Versoix, Switzerland b Department of Mineralogy, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland article info abstract Article history: This research first focuses on the spatial and temporal patterns of heavy metals from contrasting environ- Received 4 July 2011 ments (highly polluted to deepwater sites) of Lake Geneva. The mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) records from Received in revised form 5 September 2011 two deepwater sites show that the heavy metal variations before the industrial period are primarily linked Accepted 7 September 2011 to natural weathering input of trace elements. By opposition, the discharge of industrial treated wastewaters Available online 1 November 2011 into Vidy Bay of Lake Geneva during the second part of the 20th century, involved the sedimentation of high- ly metal-contaminated sediments in the area surrounding the WWTP outlet pipe discharge. Eventually, a Keywords: fi Lake sediments new Pb isotope record of sediments from Lake Lucerne identi es the long-term increasing anthropogenic Trace elements lead pollution after ca. 1500, probably due to the development of metallurgical activities during the High Heavy metal pollution Middle Ages. These data furthermore allows to compare the recent anthropogenic sources of water pollution Pb isotopes from three of the largest freshwater lakes of Western Europe (lakes Geneva, Lucerne, and Constance). High Switzerland increases in Pb and Hg highlight the regional impact of industrial pollution after ca. 1750–1850, and the decrease of metal pollution in the 1980s due to the effects of remediation strategies such as the implementation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, at all the studied sites, the recent metal concentrations re- main higher than pre-industrial levels. Moreover, the local scale pollution data reveal two highly contaminated sites (N100 μg Pb/g dry weight sediment) by industrial activities, during the late-19th and early-20th centuries (Lake Lucerne) and during the second part of the 20th century (Vidy Bay of Lake Geneva). Overall, the regional scale pollution history inferred from the three large and deep perialpine lakes points out at the pollution of water systems by heavy metals during the last two centuries due to the discharge of industrial effluents. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction et al., 1998; De Vleeschouwer et al., 2007), but major issues remain about the sources of pollutant metals into aquatic environment. Anthropogenic toxic heavy metals that accumulate in the environ- Moreover, some sediment deposits highly contaminated by past ment and in the food chain, are threatening the world's freshwater human activities (e.g., municipal and industrial waste sediment resources used for drinking and recreational purposes (Vörösmarty from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)) can present a potential et al., 2010). Lake sediments offer a unique opportunity for recon- health risk to a population through the possible remobilization of structing the heavy metal pollution history of our environment, and pathogens and inorganic pollutants at the sediment-water interface for evaluating the impacts of remediation for natural water quality under the influence of chemical (e.g., changing redox conditions; protection. Indeed, the enrichment of heavy metals in depositional Pearson et al., 2010) or physical (e.g., mass movement event or dam areas such as lacustrine sediments can provide a long-term history flushing; Girardclos et al., 2007; Wildi et al., 2004) processes. of changes in natural and anthropogenic trace element input, and More than the two thirds of the Swiss population live in urban the possibility to evaluate the recent metal contamination in compar- areas, which are mainly located on the Swiss Plateau, extending ison to the natural level (background; Eades et al., 2002). Freshwater from Lake Geneva in the southwest to Lake Constance in the north- lakes not only receive atmospheric (anthropogenic) pollutant emis- east (altitude ranging from about 350 to 550 m a.s.l.) (Fig. 1). Many sions, but also the natural (lithogenic) heavy metals discharged by foreland lakes were formed after the retreat of the ice margin from rivers. In Europe, anthropogenic atmospheric heavy metal source has the Alpine foreland following the Last Glacial Maximum (after ca. dominated over the geogenic source since industrialization (Schotyk 17.5 ka; Ivy-Ochs et al., 2004). Today, Switzerland is the source of many major Europeans rivers, such as the Rhône and the Rhine. In this study, we first investigate the pollutant deposition history from ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +41 22 379 03 15; fax: +41 22 379 03 29. deepwater sites of Lake Geneva (which is fed by the Rhône River; E-mail address: [email protected] (F. Thevenon). Fig. 1). We then consider the contaminated sediments of Vidy Bay 0048-9697/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.025 Author's personal copy 240 F. Thevenon et al. / Science of the Total Environment 412-413 (2011) 239–247 Fig. 1. (Top left) Map of Switzerland with the largest Swiss lakes indicated, and the location of the three Swiss lakes mentioned in the text. (Upper right) Bathymetric map of Lake Lucerne showing the location of the city of Lucerne situated on the outflow River Reuss and core 4WS-05 (bathymetric contour interval is 40 m). (Bottom right) Bathymetric map (bathymetric contour interval is 50 m) of Lake Geneva showing the location of the city of Geneva situated on the outflow River Rhône and the studied areas. (Centre) Bathymetric map of Vidy Bay close to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of the city of Lausanne; also showing the location of the cores from the deepest part of Lake Geneva (C2, 304 m) and from Vidy Bay (V1 and V3). of Lake Geneva (Fig. 1), where the treated wastewaters from the Vidy and the spreading of pharmaceutical and hormonal micropollutants treatment plant (WWTP) have been discharged since 1964. This site (Perazzolo et al., 2010) occurred in the sediment. was previously investigated to evaluate the impact of the discharge of Here, we present new lead (Pb) records from Vidy Bay and from municipal and industrial waste sediments from the WWTP. High con- the deepest parts of the Grand Lac (Large Lake; ~300 m) and the centrations of heavy metals (Monna et al., 1999; Loizeau et al., 2004), Petit Lac (Small Lake; ~50 m) (Fig. 1), in order to evaluate i) pre- high microbial activities (Poté et al., 2008; Thevenon et al., 2011a), industrial variations in concentrations of heavy metals in Lake Author's personal copy F. Thevenon et al. / Science of the Total Environment 412-413 (2011) 239–247 241 Geneva, and ii) recent anthropogenic heavy metal emissions in sites Sarner Aa; Fig. 1). Lake Lucerne is monomictic, with one complete with different natural inputs (based on normalization to a conservative, overturn every six years generally preceded by a significant rise of lithogenic element). the hypolimnic temperature. The lake underwent a period of moder- We provide a broader understanding of the sources of heavy ate eutrophication from 1960 to 1979 (Bührer and Ambühl, 2001). metals and evaluate the recent contamination of European lakes, a In 2005, a 163 cm-long core (4WS05, Fig. 1) was collected in major issue for large freshwater lakes such as Geneva and Constance the middle of the Chrüztricher Basin (669.397/209.079) at 110 m (Monna et al., 1999; Bollhöfer et al., 1994; Kober et al., 1999). We water depth. This core has been previously analyzed for combustion compare the Lake Geneva Pb record to that of Lake Lucerne, which residues (Thevenon and Anselmetti, 2007) and trace element concen- was highly impacted by different fossil fuel combustion products tration (Thevenon et al., 2011b). during the late-19th and early-20th centuries (Thevenon and Anselmetti, 2007). A new stable Pb isotope record from this site is 2.2. Sediment dating and trace elements analysis compared to published records from lakes Geneva and Constance, 137 in order to discriminate the anthropogenic sources of heavy metal 2.2.1.