Accumulation and trace-metal variability of estuarine sediments, Barataria Basin, Louisiana
- Tulane Univ., New Orleans, LA (United States)
Prior to government regulation, little monitoring of metal discharges into the canals, bayous, and rivers that drain estuarine systems occurred. Discharges of heavy metals are now limited through the use of regulatory permit programs for industries and municipalities. Resource management of economically important estuarine systems has fostered increasing concern over the accumulation of heavy metal pollutants in water, sediments, and biota of these dynamic areas. As a result of the low solubility of most metals, very small amounts are transported in solution. Most metals transported by rivers are tightly bound in the aluminosilicate phases associated with the suspended and bottom sediments. The bottom sediments of lakes and estuaries have served as sinks for the accumulation of heavy metals from natural weathering products, spills, effluents, runoff, and atmospheric sources. These accumulations have left a metal signature upon essentially every bay and estuary in the northern Gulf. The acid-leachable concentrations of 14 metals (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) were determined for 136 bottom sediment samples and 40 core interval samples by plasma emission analysis. Elevated concentrations in heavy metals near the centers of the Barataria basin lakes reflect the strong correlations between increased trace-metal concentrations and smaller grain-size sediments. Heavy metal concentrations within the 2-cm core intervals indicate increases in Ba, Cr, Cd, Pb, and Zn (10-30%) within Barataria basin sediments accumulated in the last 75 yr. Although anthropogenic heavy metal contributions within Barataria basin exist, comparisons of average trace-metal concentrations from the study areas with those of other Gulf Coast estuaries and with the average shale indicate that the heavy metal contents of upper Barataria basin sediments have not reached alarming levels.
- OSTI ID:
- 96237
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941065-; ISSN 0149-1423; TRN: 95:005100-0041
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 78, Issue 9; Conference: 44. annual convention of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies and the 41st annual convention of the Gulf Coast Section of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Austin, TX (United States), 5-7 Oct 1994; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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