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* Present address: Department of Geology, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 28516. sampled with high resolution over the past several hundred years. In addition, bioturbation is not a significant factor in disturbing the sedimentary record in portions of the nearshore basins.

As part of the DOE CaBS (California Basin Study) program, we have studied cores from the Santa Monica Basin collected during cruises in 1985 and 1986. The last reports of heavy metals and other elements in cores from this basin are those by Bruland et al.(1) and Ng and Patterson (4) on cores recovered in 1971 and 1977, re-spectively. Because of the improvements in waste treatment and pollution control during the intervening years, a fresh assessment of the sedimentary record in this region seems necessary. Our goal is to add to the understanding of how sediments monitor the marine environment by determining the …