I to be honest was very worried about this one. I word corruption and pollution cannot have similar meanings.
However again please view the full ayat in the context:
030.041
YUSUFALI: Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned, that (Allah) may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from Evil).
PICKTHAL: Corruption doth appear on land and sea because of (the evil) which men’s hands have done, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return.
SHAKIR: Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea on account of what the hands of men have wrought, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may return.
Also see what does tafsir say about this Ayat:
{ ظَهَرَ ٱلْفَسَادُ فِي ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي ٱلنَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُمْ بَعْضَ ٱلَّذِي عَمِلُواْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ](http://javascript:Open_Menu()) }
Corruption has appeared on land, in the wastelands, because of the rain being withheld and the vegetation diminishing, and on sea, in lands near rivers because of their waters diminishing, because of what people’s hands have perpetrated, of acts of disobedience, that He may make them taste (li-yudhīqahum; or [may be read] li-nudhīqahum, ‘that We may make them taste’) something of what they have done, that is, the punishment for it, that perhaps they may repent.
You said "this again is not very clear cut. corruption? what kind of corruption?".
First of all the verse use the word Corruption or Mischief for sea and land both. Now one should clearly deny that corruption means political or social or society corruption. Becasue you can probably associate corruption with land but not with sea. I think its a metaphor.
I think rather than me re iterating the Tafsir if you read it with more attention then you ll see what I meant.