%0 Generic
%A Sayer, CD
%A Boyle, J
%A Emson, D
%A Goldsmith, BJ
%A Patmore, IR
%A Shilland, J
%A Yang, H
%C London, UK
%D 2015
%F discovery:10115153
%I UCL Environmental Change Research Centre
%N 165
%T Recent heavy metal contamination of the Thurne Broads
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10115153/
%X The banning of tributyltin (TBT) from boat antifouling paints in the late 1980s led to its  replacement by alternative biocide additives (Voulvoulis et al., 2000; Marcheselli et  al., 2010), including Cu (Dahl & Blanck, 1996) and Zn as active ingredients. It has  been reported that Cu and Zn compounds associated with these biocides have  caused substantial contamination of harbour and marina sediments (Eklund et al.,  2010; Parks et al., 2010), with negative toxic consequences for aquatic organisms  (Ytreberg et al., 2010). Indeed, it is evident that Cu and Zn compounds present in  paint fragments are readily leached into the water column allowing entry into aquatic  food webs (Jessop & Turner, 2011). Nevertheless, relatively little is known regarding  antifoulant-derived metals contamination in freshwater lakes.  The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads (Eastern England, UK) have been contaminated by  antifoulant-derived heavy metals, particularly Cu and Zn which have increased since  the banning of TBT (post-1987) in parts of the boated system (Boyle et al., in prep.).  Further, recent studies suggest that current levels of sediment contamination by Cu  may have negative ecological effects for aquatic ecosystems including inhibition of  aquatic macrophyte germination and performance (Boyle et al., submitted; S.  Lambert, unpublished data).  In Hickling Broad (Thurne Broads system), post-TBT increases in Cu and Zn are also  evident, with an interesting peak in Cu for the late 1990s in core HICK1 (Figure 1).  This coincides with the large-scale loss of aquatic macrophytes (especially  Characeae) from the lake in 1999 (Barker et al., 2008). HICK1 was collected in 2003.  In the proposed study we sought to gain a fuller understanding of recent metal  contamination in Hickling Broad up to the present day, whilst looking to verify and  better contextualise the late 1990s Cu peak. Further, we aimed to determine whether  the peak in Cu for Hickling Broad was also recorded at Horsey Mere which is used as  a control site in this study i.e. is it just a Hickling phenomenon? Or is it a Thurne  Broads system-wide effect?