Spatial and temporal patterns of metallic pollution in Québec City, Canada: Sources and hazard assessment from reservoir sediment records.

Québec City (QC, Canada) is an important urban center developed along the Saint-Charles River, at the confluence with the Saint-Lawrence River. Here, environmental issues related to pollution have been recently raised for sediments trapped upstream a dam built in the early 1970s. The major concern is about downstream transport of sediments and contaminants toward the Saint-Lawrence Estuary, a protected marine area of high socioeconomic value.