Abstract

The Kondopoga bay has been a sewage recipient of the Kondopoga pulp and paper mill, since 1929. The aim of this study is to show the effect of pulp and paper mill sewage on the sediment quality, to demonstrate the dynamics of sediment organic pollution spreading in 1964 - 2010. Presently, the study area of Kondopoga bay is divided into three zones. The sediments of zone I, located near the pulp and paper mill, consist of very slowly decomposable waste matter. The sediments of zone II, located at 4 km away from pulp and paper mill, differ from the rest by intensive salts flux across the sediment-water interface. Accumulation and transformation of organic suspended substances is observed in the deepest area (zone III). The change of the chemical composition of the sediments showed the tendency of polluted sediments extension and spreading of organic pollution all over the Kondopoga bay. Transformed organic suspended substances come from the bay in the open part of Lake Onega.

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