Heavy metal contamination from landfills in coastal marine sediments: Kiribati and New Zealand

The study of marine sediments provides useful information in marine, environmental and geochemical research about pollution of the marine environment (Calace et al. 2005). Urban developments and industrial activities contribute to the introduction of significant amounts of contaminants (among them trace metals) into the marine environment and affect directly the coastal systems where they are often deposited (Angelidis 1995; Dassenakis et al. 2003). The growing apprehension about the potential effects of sediment toxicity poses to marine fauna and flora and the risk posed to the environment by the contaminants accumulated by the sediments have aroused an increase in research interests in marine sediments (Vernet 1991; Calace et al. 2005).