Eight sediment cores recovered from Tamaki Estuary were analysed for Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd using downward cored sub-samples. The results indicate a significant upward enrichment in heavy metals with the highest concentrations found in the uppermost 0-10 cm layer. Assessment of heavy metal pollution in marine sediments requires knowledge of pre-anthropogenic metal concentrations to act as a reference against which measured values can be compared. Pristine values for the cored sediments were determined from flat "base-line" metal trends evident in lower core samples. Various methods for calculating metal enrichment and contamination factors are reviewed in detail and a modified and more robust version of the procedure for calculating the degree of contamination is proposed. The revised procedure allows the incorporation of a flexible range of pollutants, including various organic species, and the degree of contamination is expressed as an average ratio rather than an absolute summation number. Comparative data for normalized enrichment factors and the modified degree of contamination show that Tamaki Estuary sediments have suffered significant systematic heavy metal contamination following catchment urbanization. Compared to baseline values the uppermost sediment layers show four-fold enrichment averaged across eight cores and four analysed metals.

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Tamaki Estuary is a large, semi-enclosed water body on the eastern side of the Auckland metropolitan area. The long and relatively narrow channel of the estuary (ca. 17 km in length) is surrounded by an urbanised and industrialised catchment. The catchment is noted for more than 600 industrial premises in addition to a range of other human activities associated with pastoral and urban land-use changes during the last 150 years. The study of seven estuary cores shows that sedimentation rates as well as the sediment coarse fraction have increased with the development of the catchment. Significant enrichments were also found for Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in the upper part of the cores, compared to the much lower concentrations found below 40-50 cm (considered to represent pristine background levels). Spatial association of contaminants with industrial areas and yacht anchorages, and temporal enrichments associated with the intensive urbanisation and development of the catchment since 1945 indicate that these pollutants are related to anthropogenic activities.