Bioavailability of chromium in soils and sediments at a former leather tannery site
Conference
·
OSTI ID:367515
- HydroQual Inc., Mahwah, NJ (United States)
- Kerrigan Associates, Arvada, CO (United States)
Bioavailability is a fundamental consideration in the equilibrium partitioning method used by EPA to develop sediment quality criteria (SOC). Even so, the bioavailability of metals in soils and sediments is often overlooked in ecological risk assessments for Superfund sites. This paper summarizes field and laboratory data for chromium levels in biota, soil and sediment samples from an abandoned tannery site and presents a method for characterizing the bioavailable fraction of chromium in these media. Chromium levels in soils and sediments at the former tannery site are about 1,000 times higher than levels at control sites (30,000 ppm versus 30 ppm). The elevated chromium levels are due to previously released tannery wastes, which contain high levels of chromium as a result of the tanning process. In contrast to chromium levels in soils and sediments, levels in terrestrial biota (earthworms, vegetation, and meadow voles) and aquatic biota (minnows, crayfish and mayfly nymphs) at the site are only about 2 to 20 times higher than control area samples. Biota:Soil and Biota:Sediment Accumulation Factors (BSAFs, total chromium basis) for the site are about one to five percent of control area BSAFs. This difference indicates that chromium at the site is relatively non-bioavailable. Sequential extraction techniques were used to characterize the manner in which the chromium is bound to soil and sediment at the site. The extraction results are compared with the biota field data and it appears that the exchangeable chromium fraction is indicative of the bioavailable fraction. The implications of these results to a screening level ecological risk assessment are presented.
- OSTI ID:
- 367515
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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