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Twentieth Century Atmospheric Metal Fluxes into Central Park Lake, New York City

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Steven N. Chillrud,*^† Richard F. Bopp,^‡ H. James Simpson,^† James M. Ross,^† Edward L. Shuster,^‡ Damon A. Chaky,^‡ Dan C. Walsh,^§ Cristine Chin Choy,^‖ Lael-Ruth Tolley,^‡ and Allison Yarme^†

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, Earth and Environmental Sciences, RPI, Troy, New York 12180, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, 47-40 21st Street, Long Island City, New York 11101, and Columbia University, New York, New York 10027

Environ. Sci. Technol., 1999, 33 (5), pp 657–662

DOI: 10.1021/es9807892

Publication Date (Web): January 20, 1999

Abstract

It is generally assumed that declining atmospheric lead concentrations in urban centers during the 1970s and 1980s were due almost entirely to the progressive introduction of unleaded gasoline. However, most environmental data are from monitoring programs that began only two to three decades ago, which limits their usefulness. Here, trace metal and radionuclide data from sediment cores in Central Park Lake provide a record of atmospheric pollutant deposition in New York City through the 20th century, which suggests that leaded gasoline combustion was not the dominant source of atmospheric lead for NYC. Lead deposition rates, normalized to known Pb-210 atmospheric influxes, were extremely high, reaching maximum values (>70 μg cm^-² yr^-¹) from the late 1930s to early 1960s, decades before maximum emissions from combustion of leaded gasoline. Temporal trends of lead, zinc, and tin deposition derived from the lake sediments closely resemble the history of solid waste incineration in New York City. Furthermore, widespread use of solid waste incinerators in the United States and Europe over the last century suggests that solid waste incineration may have provided the dominant source of atmospheric lead and several other metals to many urban centers.

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This article has been cited by 8 ACS Journal articles (5 most recent appear below).

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Elemental and Molecular Evidence of Soot- and Char-Derived Black Carbon Inputs to New York City's Atmosphere during the 20th Century
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  Abstract | Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links
Molecular Tracers of Saturated and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Inputs into Central Park Lake, New York City
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  Abstract | Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links
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  Abstract | Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links