Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Using urban man-made ponds to reconstruct a 150-year history of air pollution in northwest England

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Environmental Geochemistry and Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A regional pollution history has been reconstructed for the borough of Halton (northwest England) from four urban ponds in north Cheshire and south Merseyside, using environmental analyses of lake sediment stratigraphies. Mineral magnetism, geochemistry and radiometric dating have produced profiles of pollution characteristics dating from the mid-nineteenth century to present day. These pollution profiles reflect the atmospheric deposition of a range of pollutants over 150 years of intensified industry. Distinct phases of pollution deposition and characteristics are identified reflecting: (1) intensification of industry in the nineteenth century; (2) expansion of industry during the twentieth century; (3) post 1956 Clean Air Acts. This work promotes the potential use of these pollution archives for use in epidemiology to better understand links between human health and environmental pollution, especially for diseases with long latency times, where retrospective pollution exposure assessments are important.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahrens, W., & Stewart, P. (2003). Retrospective exposure assessment. In M. J. Nieuwenhuijsen (Ed.), Exposure assessment in occupational and environmental epidemiology (pp. 341–366). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, A. G., Nemitz, E., Shi, J. P., Garrison, R. M., & Greenwood, J. C. (2001). Size distributions of trace metals in atmospheric aerosols in the United Kingdom. Atmospheric Environment, 35, 4581–4591.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alloway, B. J., & Ayres, D. C. (1997). Chemical principles of environmental pollution. London: Blackie Academic and Professional.

    Google Scholar 

  • APHO & Department of Health (n.d.). Halton Health Profile 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2008 from www.nwhpo.org.uk/information.

  • Appleby, P. G., & Oldfield, F. (1983). The assessment of 210Pb data from sites with varying sediment accumulation rates. Hydrobiologia, 103, 29–35.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Appleby, P. G. (1993). Forward to the lead-210 dating anniversary series. Journal of Paleolimnology, 9, 155–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appleby, P. G., Nolan, P. J., Gifford, D. W., Godfrey, D. W., Oldfield, F., Anderson, N. J., et al. (1986). 210Pb dating by blow background gamma counting. Hydrobiologia, 143, 21–27.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Booth, C. A., Shilton, V., Fullen, M. A., Walden, J., Worsley, A. T., & Power, A. L. (2006). Environmental magnetism: measuring, monitoring and modelling urban street dust pollution. In J. W. S. Longhurst & C. A. Brebbia (Eds.), Air pollution XIV (pp. 333–341). Southampton: WIT Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Boyle, J. F. (2000). Rapid elemental analysis of sediment samples by isotope source XRF. Journal of Palaeolimnology, 23, 213–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunekreef, B., & Holgate, S. T. (2002). Air pollution and health. The Lancet, 360, 1233.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, C., Crutchley, A., Clark, G., Davies, G., Gatrell, T., Pooley, C., Stelfox, M., Watson, N., Welshman, J. & Whyatt, D. (2003). Final report: Understanding the factors affecting health in Halton. Retrieved January 12, 2005 from Halton Borough Council website: www2.Halton.gov.uk/pdfs/socialcareandhealth/healthreportfull.

  • Charlesworth, S. M., & Lees, J. A. (1997). The use of mineral magnetic measurements in polluted urban lakes and deposited dusts in Coventry, UK. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 22, 203–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charlesworth, S. M., & Lees, J. A. (1999). The transport of particulate-associated heavy metals form source to deposit in the urban environment, Coventry, UK. The Science of the Total Environment, 235, 351–353.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dearing, J. (1999). Magnetic susceptibility. In J. Walden, F. Oldfield, & J. P. Smith (Eds.), Environmental magnetism: A practical guide, technical guide no. 6 (pp. 35–62). Cambridge, England: Quaternary Research Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dekkers, M. J. (1997). Environmental magnetism: An introduction. Geologie en Mijnbouw, 76, 163–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dingle, A. E. (1982). The monster nuisance of all: Landowners, alkali manufacturers and air pollution, 1828–64. Economic History Review, 35, 529–548.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Englert, N. (2004). Fine particulates and human health—A review of epidemiological studies. Toxicology Letters, 149, 235–242.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Flanders, P. J. (1994). Collection, measurement, and analysis of airborne magnetic particulates from pollution in the environment. American Institute of Physics, 75, 5931–5936.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gao, N., Hopke, P. K., & Reid, N. W. (1996). Possible sources for some trace elements found in airborne particles and precipitation in Dorset, Ontario. Air and Waste Management Association;, 46, 1035–1047.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, J. J., & Goldberg, E. D. (1983). Impact of fossil fuel combustion on the lake sediments of Lake Michigan: A reprise. Environmental Science and Technology, 17, 244–245.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Halton Borough Council (2003). Contaminated land: strategy for inspection (Environmental Protection Act 1990: Part IIIA) Retrieved October 2, 2007, from Halton Borough Council website: www2.haltongov.uk/pdfs/environment/conlandinspectionstrategy.

  • Harrison, R. M. (2004). Key pollutants—Airborne particles. Science of the Total Environment, 334, 3–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson, S., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Elliott, P., & Jarup, L. (2007). Kidney disease mortality and environmental exposure to mercury. American Journal of Epidemiology, 165, 72–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson, S., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Hansell, A., Shepperd, S., Flute, T., Staples, B., et al. (2004). Excess risk of kidney disease in a population living near industrial plants. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 61, 717–719.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, A. (1986). The application of mineral magnetic methods to atmospheric aerosol discrimination. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 42, 10–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, A., Jones, J., & Oldfield, F. (1984). Magnetic measurements and heavy metals in atmospheric particulates of anthropogenic origin. Science of the Total Environment, 33, 129–139.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Le Tertre, A., Medina, S., Samoli, E., Forsberg, B., Michelozzi, P., Boumghar, A., et al. (2002). Short-term effects of particulate air pollution on cardiovascular diseases in eight European cities. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 56, 773–779.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mamane, Y., Miller, J. L., & Dzubay, T. G. (1986). Characterisation of individual fly ash particles emitted from coal and oil fired power plants. Atmospheric Environment, 20, 2125–2135.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meriläinen, J. J., Hnynen, J., Palomäki, A., Mäntykoski, K., & Witick, A. (2003). Environmental history of an urban lake: A palaeolimnological study of Lake Jyväsjärvi, Finland. Journal of Paleolimnology, 30, 387–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morawska, L., & Zhang, J. (2002). Combustion sources of particles.1. Health relevance and source signatures. Chemosphere, 49, 1045–1058.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, W. A., Versteeg, J. K., Bryant, D. W., Legzdins, A. E., McCarry, B. E., & Marvin, C. H. (1995). Preliminary comparisons between mutagenicity and magnetic susceptibility of respirable airborne particulate. Atmospheric Environment, 29, 3441–3450.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Muxworthy, A. R., Matzka, J., Davila, A. F., & Petersen, N. (2003). Magnetic signature of daily sampled atmospheric particulates. Atmospheric Environment, 37, 4163–4169.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Norton, S. A. (1986). A review of the chemical record in lake sediment of energy related air pollution and its effects on lakes. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 30, 331–345.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oberdörster, G. (2000). Toxicology of ultrafine particles: In vivo studies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A, 358, 2719–2740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield, F. (1990). Magnetic measurements of recent sediments from Big Moose Lake, Adirondack Mountains, NY, USA. Journal of Paleolimnology, 4, 93–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield, F., & Appleby, P. G. (1984). Empirical testing of 210Pb-dating models for lake sediments. In E. Y. Haworth & J. W. G. Lund (Eds.), Lake sediments and environmental history (pp. 93–124). Leicester: Leicester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield, F., Hunt, A., Jones, M. D. H., Chester, R., Dearing, J., Olsson, L., et al. (1985). Magnetic differentiation of atmospheric dusts. Nature, 317, 516–518.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Olsson, I. U. (1986). Radiometric dating. In B. E. Berglund (Ed.), Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology (pp. 273–312). Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pacyna, J. M. (1998). Sources inventories for atmospheric trace metals. In R. M. Harrison & R. Von Grieken (Eds.), IUPAC series on analytical and physical chemistry of environmental systems. Vol. 5: Atmospheric particles (pp. 95–146). Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peled, R., Friger, M., Bolotin, A., Bibi, H., Epstein, L., Pilpel, D., et al. (2005). Fine particles and meteorological conditions are associated with lung function in children with asthma living near two power plants. Public Health, 199, 418–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrovskỳ, E., & Ellwood, B. (1999). Magnetic monitoring of air-, land- and water-pollution. In B. A. Maher & R. Thompson (Eds.), Quaternary climates, environments and magnetism (pp. 279–281). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phalen, R. F. (2002). The particulate air pollution controversy: A case study and lessons learned. London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renberg, I. (1986). Concentration and annual accumulation values of heavy metals in lake sediments: Their significance in studies of the history of heavy metal pollution. Hydrobiologia, 143, 379–385.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. L., & Harlock, S. (1998). The spatial distribution of characterized fly-ash particles and trace metals in lake sediments and catchment mosses in the United Kingdom. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 106, 287–308.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sainsbury, P., Hussey, R., Ashton, J., & Andrews, B. (1996). Industrial atmospheric pollution, historical land use patterns and mortality. Journal of Public Health Medicine, 18, 87–93.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. P. (1999). An introduction to the magnetic properties of natural minerals. In J. Walden, F. Oldfield, & J. P. Smith (Eds.), Environmental magnetism: A practical guide, technical guide no. 6 (pp. 5–26). Cambridge, England: Quaternary Research Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staples, B., Howse, M. L. P., Mason, H., & Bell, G. M. (2003). Land contamination and urinary abnormalities: Cause for concern? Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60, 463–46737.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, R. (2002). Counting the costs of London’s killer smog. Science, 298, 2106.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, R., & Oldfield, F. (1986). Environmental magnetism. London: Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verosub, K. L., & Roberts, A. P. (1995). Environmental magnetism: Past, present and future. Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, 2175–2192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veselý, J., Almquist-Jacobson, H., Miller, L. M., Norton, S. A., Appelby, P., Dixit, A. S., et al. (1993). The history and impact of air pollution on Čertovo lake, southwestern Czech Republic. Journal of Palaeolimnology, 8, 211–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worsley, A. T., Booth, C. A., & Power, A. L. (2005). Atmospheric pollution and human health: The significance of a datable sedimentary archive from small urban lakes in Merseyside, UK. In C. A. Brebbia, V. Popov, & D. Fayzieva (Eds.), Environmental health risk III (pp. 199–208). Southampton: WIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worsley, A. T., Power, A. L., & Booth, C. A. (2006). Air pollution records from urban lake sediments: The implications of datable, lacustrine sedimentary archives for epidemiology. In J. W. S. Longhurst & C. A. Brebbia (Eds.), Air pollution XIV (pp. 735–744). Southampton: WIT Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Xie, S., Dearing, J. A., & Bloemendal, J. (2000). The organic matter content of street dust in Liverpool, UK, and its association with dust magnetic properties. Atmospheric Environment, 34, 26–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research forms part of the Research Development Programme funded by Edge Hill University and the National Health Service (Halton Primary Care Trust). Authors would like to thank Paul Oldfield (Halton Borough Council) for assistance with site identification, John Boyle (University of Liverpool) for expertise in XRF analysis, and Peter Appleby (University of Liverpool) for carrying out radiometric dating. Thanks are also extended to Fiona Riley and Amy Laurence (Edge Hill University) for assistance with poster design.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Natural Geographical and Applied Sciences, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 4QP, UK

    Ann L. Power & Ann T. Worsley

Authors
  1. Ann L. Power
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ann T. Worsley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ann L. Power.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Power, A.L., Worsley, A.T. Using urban man-made ponds to reconstruct a 150-year history of air pollution in northwest England. Environ Geochem Health 31, 327–338 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-008-9215-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-008-9215-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation