Water chemistry and fish community responses to episodic stream acidification in Pennsylvania, USA

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:5507789

Carline, R F; DeWalle, D R; Sharpe, W E; Dempsey, B A; Gagen, C J

Five streams were studied on the Northern Appalachian Plateau of Pennsylvania from October 1988 through June 1989 to determine chemical changes that occur during episodic storm run-off and the responses of fish to these events. These second-order streams flowed through undisturbed, wooded, sandstone bedrock catchments with surface areas ranging from 500 to 1000 hectares. Median pH of precipitations was about 4.2, and among streams it ranged from 5.0 to 6.2. During storm events, pH declined by as much as 1.2 units and peak concentrations of total monomeric Al ranged from <0.01 to 0.75 mg/l. Mortality of brook trout and sculpins in in situ bioassays ranged from 0 to about 80% among streams during acidic episodes and was positively related to concentrations of total dissolved Al.

• Research Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
• OSTI ID: 5507789
• Report Number(s): PB-94-113024/XAB; CNN: EPA-R-814566-01-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism &amp; Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACID RAIN
ACIDIFICATION
ALUMINIUM
ANIMALS
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BIOASSAY
CHEMISTRY
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FISHES
FRESH WATER
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IN-SITU PROCESSING
MASS TRANSFER
METALS
MORTALITY
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PENNSYLVANIA
PH VALUE
PROCESSING
RAIN
RUNOFF
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
TROUT
USA
VERTEBRATES
WATER
WATER CHEMISTRY