Geochemical trends in metal-contaminated fiord sediments near a former lead–zinc mine in West Greenland Bo Elberling a, *, Gert Asmund b , Helmar Kunzendorf c , Eirik J. Krogstad d a Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K., Denmark b Department of Arctic Environment, National Environmental Research Institute Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark c Gamma Dating Center, Plant Biology and Biochemistry Department, Risø National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark d Danish Lithosphere Centre, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K., Denmark Received 28 December 2000; accepted 17 August 2001 Editorial handling by O. Selinus Abstract Disposal of sulfidic waste in marine environments implies an environmental risk due to potential release and spreading of heavy metals to sediments and biota on a regional scale. However, tailings disposal in marine systems is practised in several places. Fiord sediments near Black Angel Mine in West Greenland are contaminated by Pb and Zn as a result of mining activity and marine disposal in the period 1973–1990. Chemical analyses were performed on 6 fiord sediment cores collected up to 10 km away from the disposal area and included heavy metal analysis, high-reso- lution stable Pb isotope stratigraphy and radiochemical dating ( 210 Pb). The results were used for evaluating spatial and temporal distribution of anthropogenic heavy metals from the marine disposal. A significant accumulation of Pb and Zn on a regional scale is still observed 9 years after mine closure. Stable Pb-isotope data provide a unique fingerprint of the mining-related Pb sources in the area. Today spreading of mining-related Pb up to 10 km away from the mining area accounts for more than 80% of total Pb in sediment deposited within the last 100 years. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Pollution problems related to base metal mining operations are mainly due to sulfide oxidation followed by acid generation and the release of heavy metals from waste materials. Underwater disposal may be an attrac- tive remediation action to reduce the environmental impact but requires a water reservoir. With the absence of suitable freshwater reservoirs, some mines have obtained permission to dispose sulfidic waste in marine systems (Ellis and Robertson, 1999). In such a case, long-term spreading of metals during mining operation and after mining closure is highly undesirable and needs to be quantified. The abandoned Zn–Pb mine, ‘Black Angel mine’, at Maarmorilik in West Greenland (Fig. 1) is an important example where permission for submarine tailings dis- posal was given. Exploitation of a Zn–Pb (sphalerite and galena) deposit took place from 1973 to 1990 and over that time period more than 810 6 t of mine tailings from ore treatment, containing 510 4 t Zn and 2.210 4 t Pb, were deposited in the Affarlikassaa Fiord. As part of the mine exploitation various waste rock dumps were established on land. One major dump was moved from the tidal zone and dumped on the tailings deposit in Affarlikassaa Fiord as part of the mine clearing in 1990/ 1991. Due to elevated concentrations of Pb in biota, environmental investigations have been carried out reg- ularly since 1973 (e.g. Loring and Asmund, 1989; Asmund et al., 1991; Asmund, 1992a,b). The anthropogenic sources of metals and sediments outside the disposal area include tailings, concentrate, and dissolved metals spread within the fiord system, 0883-2927/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0883-2927(01)00119-6 Applied Geochemistry 17 (2002) 493–502 www.elsevier.com/locate/apgeochem * Corresponding author. Tel.: +45-3532-2520; fax: +45- 3532-2501. E-mail address: be@geogr.ku.dk (B. Elberling).