Monitoring effects of remediation on natural sediment recovery in Sydney Harbour, Nova Scotia.

Chemical contaminants were assessed in Sydney Harbour, Nova Scotia during pre-remediation (baseline) and 3 years of remediation of a former coking and steel facility after nearly a century of operation and historical pollution into the Sydney Tar Ponds (STP). Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls, metals, and inorganic parameters measured in sediments and total suspended solids in seawater indicate that the overall spatial distribution pattern of historical contaminants remains unchanged, although at much lower concentrations than previously reported due to natural sediment recovery, despite remediation activities. Measured sediment deposition rates in bottom-moored traps during baseline were low (0.