Seagrass soils sequester up to half the metal emissions of one of the world's largest smelters

One of the world's largest smelters has been operating in South Australia since 1889, affecting environment and human health. Here we quantified the magnitude of Pb, Zn and Cd emissions from the smelter sequestered in the soil of an adjacent 110 km(2) Posidonia australis seagrass meadows. Seagrass core records show that the smelter contaminated the entire area with decreasing sequestration with increasing distance from contamination points. The soil accumulated similar to 1300 t of Pb, similar to 3450 t of Zn, and similar to 90 t of Cd since 1889, and sequestered the equivalent of similar to 20 % of Pb, and similar to 50 % of Zn and Cd cumulative smelter emissions since 1999, showing that seagrass can be significant, long-term sinks of metal pollution in highly contaminated environments. Conservation efforts should prioritize these seagrass meadows to avoid the potential release of pollutants from their soils following habitat loss, which could turn seagrasses from a sink to a source of pollution.