Speciation and leaching behaviour of inorganic contaminants in actively eroding historical coastal municipal solid waste landfills

Burke, IT, Onnis, P, Riley, AL, Gandy, CJ, Ramos, V, Rollinson, GK, Byrne, P, Crane, RA, Hudson-Edwards, KA, Jennings, E, Mayes, WM, Mosselmans, JFW and Jarvis, AP (2025) Speciation and leaching behaviour of inorganic contaminants in actively eroding historical coastal municipal solid waste landfills. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 219. ISSN 0025-326X

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Abstract

The erosion of legacy coastal municipal solid waste landfill sites will result in the dispersion of particulate material into nearby ecosystems with potential for effects on marine populations. Information on the speciation and solid phase associations of metal(loid) contaminants will help to predict contaminant behaviour and better understand ecosystem risks. Here, we investigate the solid phase composition of, and metal(loid) leaching from, fine fraction materials recovered from three actively eroding coastal landfill sites. High concentrations of a range of potentially toxic elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn) were present in multiple samples, but metal(loid) leaching rates were very low (≪1 wt%) in both deionised water and seawater solutions. Therefore, particulate dispersion is the most likely mode of contaminant transport occurring at these sites. The fine fraction materials were dominated by fine sand sized (63–180 μm) quartz grains and silt sized (<63 μm) matrix components, which were likely to be poorly retained on beaches and easily transported offshore. Four priority contaminants (As, Cu, Pb and Zn) were found to occur primarily in adsorbed or precipitate forms, as either coatings on other particles or as discrete <10 μm particles. Dilution of these fine-grained contaminated particles within natural pelitic sediments will likely reduce the overall ecosystems impacts; but the risks to filter and bottom feeding organisms, and the potential for biomagnification across trophic levels are poorly understood.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions:	Biological and Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date of acceptance:	19 June 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	26 June 2025
Date Deposited:	26 Jun 2025 09:38
Last Modified:	26 Jun 2025 10:00
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.118341
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26659

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