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Title: Environmental impact of ongoing sources of metal contamination on remediated sediments

Journal Article · · Science of the Total Environment
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)
  2. LimnoTech, Ann Arbor, MN (United States)
  3. Univ. of Georgia, Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Ecology Lab.
+ Show Author Affiliations

One challenge to all remedial approaches for contaminated sediments is the continued influx of contaminants from uncontrolled sources following remediation. We investigated the effects of ongoing contamination in mesocosms employing sediments remediated by different types of active and passive caps and in-situ treatment. Our hypothesis was that the sequestering agents used in active caps and in situ treatment will bind elements (arsenic, chromium, cadmium, cobalt, copper, nickel, lead, selenium, and zinc) from ongoing sources thereby reducing their bioavailability and protecting underlying remediated sediments from recontamination. Most element concentrations in surface water remained significantly lower in mesocosms with apatite and mixed amendment caps than in mesocosms with passive caps (sand), uncapped sediment, and spike solution throughout the 2520 hour experiment. Element concentrations were significantly higher in Lumbriculus variegatus from untreated sediment than in Lumbriculus from most active caps. Moreover, Pearson correlations between element concentrations in Lumbriculus and metal concentrations in the top 2.5 cm of sediment or cap measured by diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT) sediment probes were generally strong (as high as 0.98) and significant (p<0.05) for almost all tested elements. Metal concentrations in both Lumbriculus and sediment/cap were lowest in apatite, mixed amendment, and activated carbon treatments. Finally, these findings show that some active caps can protect remediated sediments by reducing the bioavailable pool of metals/metalloids in ongoing sources of contamination.

Research Organization:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC09-08SR22470; AC09-798861048
OSTI ID:
1254436
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1776292
Report Number(s):
SRNL-STI-2016-00237; PII: S0048969716307331
Journal Information:
Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 563-564, Issue C; ISSN 0048-9697
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Monitoring and assessment of sediment contamination with toxic heavy metals: case study of industrial effluent dispersion in Alaro River, Nigeria journal September 2018
Passive Sampling Methods for Assessing the Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Sediments journal May 2019

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Metals
passive caps
active caps
remediated sediment
bioavailability
re-contamination