During 1980 and 1981 the aerosol burden as well as the wet and dry atmospheric fall-out of Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe and Mn to the sea have been studied in the Belgian coastal area. Atmospheric Cu, Zn and Cd are observed to be introduced into the sea mainly by wet fall-out, while Fe, Mn and also Pb have a dry and wet fall-out of similar magnitude. Of these elements, Cu, Zn and Cd have the highest washout factors. Furthermore, for all elements, excepted Mn, discrepancies exist between washout factors above land and sea, with values up to 5 times larger above the sea.On the scale of the North Sea, atmospheric fall-out of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd exceeds by one order of magnitude the combined input of the rivers Scheldt, Rhine and Meuse, while fall-out of Fe and Mn is of... |