Skip common site navigation and headers
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Water Science
Begin Hierarchical Links EPA Home > Water > Water Science > Contaminated Sediments > Newsletters > Issue #30 September 2002 End Hierarchical Links

 

Contaminated Sediments News

Issue 30 - September 2002


Welcome to the Contaminated Sediments News, a monthly review of recent journal articles, issues in the press, upcoming conferences, and other news. This website will replace the Contaminated Sediments Newsletter, which was published quarterly through the summer of 2000. Items for the CS News are chosen from the results of a detailed search of a number of scientific and technical publication databases, as well as from searches of media publication databases (including newspapers and magazines).

Check back to this site frequently to see each new issue of the Contaminated Sediments News, and visit the CS News Archive to find past issues.

Contents

Note: The summaries found on this website are based on articles from the press and from peer-reviewed publications, and they represent the opinions of the original authors. The views of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government.

Current News

Recent Journal Articles of Interest

  • Parameters affecting partitioning of PCB congeners in sediments - The authors performed experiments to measure PCBs in which bottom sediments were rtificially resuspended using sediment contaminated with PCBs (from the Housatonic River in Connecticut) in a particle entrainment simulator (PES). The results of similar experiments have shown that mean concentration of PCBs in the solid phase for sites with high volatile organic carbon (VOC) were significantly greater than samples with low VOC, while the reverse was true for the water phase. For this study, partition coefficients (Kp) were determined from simulations for PCB congeners 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, and 180. Results showed that Kp was determined to be inversely proportional to total suspended solids (TSS), but directly proportional to chlorine content of the congener. The authors conclude that agitation of samples using a PES is a better method for simulating real environmental conditions when compared to jar studies with no agitation.

    Source: Alkhatib E.; Weigand C.; Parameters affecting partitioning of 6 PCB congeners in natural sediments. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 78, Issue 1, August 2002, Pp. 1-17.

  • Normalization procedures for sediment contaminants - The authors present a brief overview of normalization procedures for sediment contaminants, and discuss the methodologies available for a site-specific normalization approach. General recommendations are also given regarding the choice of normalizer and the necessary geochemical and statistical quality assurance methods, with support from the results of recent international intercomparison exercises within the Quality Assurance of Sample Handling (QUASH) program. The authors state that their most important recommendation is the use of a two-tiered normalization approach including wet sieving (<63 microm), followed by additional geochemical co-factor normalization.

    Source: Kerste, Michael; Smedes, Foppe. Normalization procedures for sediment contaminants in spatial and temporal trend monitoring, Journal of Environmental Monitoring: JEM, Vol. 4, Issue 1, February 2002, Pp. 109-115.

  • Comparative in situ and laboratory sediment bioassays - This study was performed in order to compare the results of laboratory assays with in situ deployments in sediment toxicity assays (conducted with juvenile Mercenaria mercenaria). The clams were deployed for one week at a variety of degraded and control sites in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, over three consecutive summers. At the same time, lab assays were conducted with sediments collected from the study sites. Toxicity between reference and degraded sites was tested using mortality and a sublethal endpoint, seed clam growth rate. Growth rates of field-deployed clams tended to be higher than growth rates for laboratory assays, especially at the reference sites. Field studies indicated a higher potential for toxicity than did the laboratory studies at degraded sites. Regression normalization techniques were used to distinguish the effects of environmental factors, which might affect growth rates, from those of contaminants. Based on their results, the authors suggest that lab assays may underestimate potential sediment toxicity at degraded sites.

    Source: Ringwood, Amy H; Keppler, Charles J. Comparative in situ and laboratory sediment bioassays with juvenile Mercenaria mercenaria. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 8, August 2002, Pp. 1651-1657.

  • Characterization of estrogenic activity of riverine sediments - Researchers evaluated the suitability of an in vitro bioassay system to detect estrogen receptor (ER)-mediated activity in river sediment extracts from an industrialized area in the Czech Republic. Luciferase activity was used to determine total estrogenic activity. All sediment samples elicited considerable estrogenic activity, and the Florisil fraction was the most estrogenic. The results of mass-balance calculations and testing of fractions confirmed that certain PAHs or their metabolites were the most likely compounds contributing to estrogenicity.

    Source: Hilscherova, K; Kannan, K; Holoubek, I; Giesy, J P. Characterization of estrogenic activity of riverine sediments from the Czech Republic. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Vol. 43, Issue 2, August 2002, Pp. 175-185

  • An assessment of injury to sediments and sediment-dwelling organisms in the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Area of Concern - This paper describes the results of a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) conducted in the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Area of Concern (IHAOC). The part of the assessment described here was undertaken to determine if sediments and sediment-dwelling organisms have been injured due to exposure to contaminants. To perform the assessment, first information was compiled on the chemical composition of sediment and pore water; on the toxicity of whole sediments, pore water, and elutriates; and on the status of benthic invertebrate communities. The data on each of these indicators were compared to regionally relevant benchmarks to assess the presence and extent of injury to surface water or biological resources. The results indicate that sediment injury has occurred throughout the assessment area, and that the primary contaminants of concern include metals, PAHs, and total PCBs. Other aspects of this NRDA will be published in separate papers.

    Source: MacDonald, D D; Ingersoll, C G; Smorong, D E; Lindskoog, R A; Sparks, D W; Smith, J R; Simon, T P; Hanacek, M A. An assessment of injury to sediments and sediment-dwelling organisms in the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Area of Concern, USA. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Vol. 43, Issue 2, August 2002, Pp. 141-155.

  • A levy flight-random walk model for bioturbation - The authors describe the results of a lattice model of contaminant migration by bioturbation in which Levy flights are employed. The model couples burrowing, foraging, and conveyor-belt feeding with molecular diffusion, and it correctly predicts a square-root dependence on bioturbation rates over a wide range of biomass densities. The authors used the model to predict the effect of bioturbation on the redistribution of contaminants in laboratory microcosms containing an oligochaete species. The model also explores sensitivity of flux and concentration profiles to the specific mechanisms of bioturbation.

    Source: Reible, Danny; Mohanty, Sanat. A. Levy flight-random walk model for bioturbation. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC. Vol. 21, Issue 4, April 2002, Pp. 875-881.

  • Evaluating the ecological significance of lab data to predict population-level effects - This study involved population modeling and empirical extrapolation to describe a relationship between acute mortality and population-level response of Ampelisca abdita, an amphipod often used to evaluate chemical contamination of marine sediments. The researchers performed a standard 10-d sediment toxicity bioassay and a 70-d full life-cycle chronic population bioassay exposing the amphipod to sediments contaminated with cadmium. The data from these assays was used to parameterize an age-classified projection matrix model and to develop exposure-response models. Model manipulations permitted extrapolation of early life-stage mortality (the acute endpoint) to changes in population growth rate. These relationships were used to evaluate a range of ecologically acceptable acute mortality for A. abdita.

    Source: Kuhn, Anne; Munns, Wayne R, Jr; Serbst, Jonathan; Edwards, Phillip; Cantwell, Mark G; Gleason, Timothy; Pelletier, Marguerite C; Berry, Walter. Evaluating the ecological significance of laboratory response data to predict population-level effects for the estuarine amphipod Ampelisca abdita. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 4, April 2002, Pp. 865-874.

  • Effects of contact time on the sequestration and bioavailability of hydrophobic organic chemicals - In this study, researchers investigated the effect of contact time on the bioavailability and sequestration of different classes of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOC) by benthic deposit feeders. The researchers measured the steady-state accumulation into benthic oligochaetes and the distribution over rapidly and slowly desorbing fractions in laboratory-contaminated sediment at different contact times. The measured reductions in bioavailability and sequestration indicated that long contact times do not necessarily result in pronounced bioavailability or sequestration reduction. However, for chlorobenzenes, the bioavailability was greatly reduced, as was sequestration, which was attributed to losses of rapidly desorbing compounds. Over 75% of the variation in biota-to-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) of the PAHs and chlorobenzenes could be explained by differences in rapidly desorbing fractions. The authors conclude that this study provides evidence of a relationship between sequestration status and bioavailability of HOC to benthic deposit feeders.

    Source: Kraaij, Rik H; Tolls, Johannes; Sum, Dick; Cornelissen, Gerard; Heikens, Alex; Belfroid, Angelique. Effects of contact time on the sequestration and bioavailability of different classes of hydrophobic organic chemicals to benthic oligochaetes (Tubificidae). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 4, April 2002, Pp. 752-759.

  • Kinetics of PCB dechlorination by Hudson River sediment microorganisms - The authors investigated the kinetics of PCB dechlorination by Hudson River sediment microorganisms using Aroclor 1242 at 10 different concentrations (ranging from 0 to 900 ppm). Results showed the dechlorination rate was a linear function of PCB concentrations, similar to the dechlorination of Aroclor 1248 by sediment microorganisms from the St. Lawrence River; however, the rate was much slower for the Hudson River study. The threshold concentration below which no dechlorination occurs was three time higher than that for the dechlorination of Aroclor 1248. Dechlorinating microorganisms did not show any significant growth until late in the lag phase of dechlorination, and their maximum was greater at higher initial Aroclor 1242 concentrations. Although dechlorination rates were significantly lower with the Hudson River study, when normalized to the maximum number of dechlorinating organisms, they were not significantly different from those for Aroclor 1248 by St. Lawrence River microorganisms. Thus, the authors conclude that these results further support the idea that PCB dechlorination is tightly linked to the growth of dechlorinating microorganisms.

    Source: Cho, Young-Cheol; Sokol, Roger C; Rhee, G-Yull. Kinetics of polychlorinated biphenyl dechlorination by Hudson River, New York, USA, sediment microorganisms. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 4, April 2002, Pp. 715-719.

  • Comparison of the transport and fate of PCBs in three Great Lakes food webs - This study compared fate and transport of PCB congeners in three food webs in the Great Lakes, by using a food web bioaccumulation model. The model was used to quantify the contribution of sediment-derived and freely dissolved PCBs to the body burden of aquatic biota. In eastern Lake Erie, almost 100% of the chemical body burden of biota originates from sediment, while in western Lake Erie, benthic invertebrates accumulated slightly more than half of their PCB body burden from sediment while fish accumulated less than half of their chemical body burden from sediment. Fish from Lake Ontario, Canada, accumulated less than 30% of their body burden of PCB congeners from sediment and approximately half of their body burden of PCB congeners from sediment. The researchers used field data and the model to determine the effects of declining concentrations of PCBs in water and sediment on concentrations of PCBs in aquatic biota. Results of the study indicated that as concentrations of PCB congeners in the ecosystem decline, the role of sediment as the source of contaminant to aquatic biota increases.

    Source: Morrison, Heather A; Whittle, D Michael; Haffner, G Douglas. A comparison of the transport and fate of polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in three Great Lakes food webs. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 4, April 2002, Pp. 683-692.

  • Predicting bioavailability and bioaccumulation with in vitro digestive fluid extraction - The researchers measured bioavailability of sediment-associated contaminants by using a bivalve bioaccumulation assay and an in vitro digestive fluid extraction procedure. Digestive fluid was obtained from a deposit-feeding polychaete and used to extract sediments from a U.S. Navy facility. Both the digestive fluid extraction and the bivalve bioaccumulation test identified cadmium, lead, PAHs, and PCBs as the contaminants of concern. For cadmium and lead, the concentration in digestive fluid during a brief extraction was highly correlated with concentration attained in the bivalve after a 28-d exposure. Bulk sediment concentrations were also found to be good predictors of bioaccumulation because of minimal differences in bioavailability from the most contaminated sediments. The authors conclude that in vitro contaminant extraction with the digestive fluid assay has potential as a screening tool to predict relative bioaccumulation risk.

    Source: Weston, Donald P; Maruya, Keith A. Predicting bioavailability and bioaccumulation with in vitro digestive fluid extraction. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 5, May 2002, Pp. 962-971.

  • Distribution of cytochrome P4501A1-inducing chemicals in sediments from Delaware Bay - This NOAA study was undertaken to document the occurrence and distribution of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A1-inducing compounds in the Delaware River-Bay system. Chemical and biological analyses, including the use of the biomarker P450 human reporter gene system (HRGS), were used. Sediment extracts from 81 locations along the Delaware River, Delaware Bay and immediate coastline were tested by utilizing HRGS as an inexpensive screening test, and were also analyzed for PAHs and PCBs. The HRGS values were highly correlated with total PAHs measured in the same sediment samples. Results showed that overall, contamination levels consistently decreased from the upper and middle river sites as collection locations progressed down through the lower river and bay to the coast. Even though the river has a high contaminant load, results indicate that Delaware Bay and the immediate coastline have relatively low levels of contaminants. The authors conclude that based on these findings, impacts on the benthic organisms in the bay and coast would not be expected.

    Source: McCoy, Daniel L; Jones, Jennifer M; Anderson, Jack W; Harmon, Michelle; Hartwell, Ian; Hameedi, Jawed. Distribution of cytochrome P4501A1-inducing chemicals in sediments of the Delaware River-Bay system, USA. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 8, August 2002, Pp. 1618-1627.

  • Distribution of chlorinated hydrocarbons in overlying water, sediment, polychaete, and fish from Southern California - DDTs and PCBs are a major source of concern in the Southern California Bight area. The authors of this study found that DDTs and PCBs remained widely distributed in the overlying water, sediment, polychaetes, and liver and muscle tissues of the hornyhead turbot (Pleuronichthys Verticalis) collected from three nearshore locations with different levels of contamination. Results of the statistical analyses conducted for this study suggest that contaminated sediments may have become an important source of contamination.

    Source: Zeng, Eddy Y; Tran, Kim. Distribution of chlorinated hydrocarbons in overlying water, sediment, polychaete, and hornyhead turbot (Pleuronichthys verticalis) in the coastal ocean, Southern California, USA. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 8, August 2002, Pp. 1600-1608.

  • Bioremediation of PAH-contaminated sediments in aerated bioslurry reactors - This study employed 0.5 m3-scale slurry-phase bioreactors to determine whether bioaugmentation with a PAH-degradative bacterial consortium, or with the salt marsh grass S. alterniflora, could enhance the biodegradation of PAHs added to dredged estuarine sediments from the NY/NJ Harbor. In all bioreactors a rapid reduction of greater than 95% of the initial phenanthrene, acenaphthene, and fluorene occurred within 14 days. Pyrene and fluoranthene reductions of 70 to 90% were achieved after 77 days., while anthracene was reduced from 30 to 85%. These results were compared to biodegradation effected by the indigenous sediment microbial community, in which separate experiments showed that the sediment microbial communities mineralized 14C-pyrene and 14C-phenanthrene. PAH degradation, and the number of phenanthrene-degrading bacteria, were not enhanced by microbial or plant bioaugmentation. These results show that bioaugmentation is not required for efficient remediation of PAH-contaminated sediments in slurry-phase bioreactors.

    Source: Loren A. Launen, Vincent H. Buggs, Michael E. Eastep, Rica C. Enriquez, Joseph W. Leonard, Michael J. Blaylock, Jian-Wei Huang and Max M. Häggblom.Bioremediation of polyaromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated sediments in aerated bioslurry reactors. Bioremediation Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 2, Pp. 125-141.

  • An assessment of in vitro androgenic activity and the identification of environmental androgens - In this study, a yeast-based androgen screen (YAS) was used to determine the level of in vitro androgenic activity in surface water, sediment pore water, and sediment particulate samples from seven United Kingdom estuaries. High levels of androgenic activity were determined in the solvent extracts of sediments, with 10 of 39 samples exhibiting a level of androgenic activity >454 ng DHT/kg. In vitro YAS testing of five selected sewage treatment works effluents entering these estuaries showed that measurable levels of androgenic activity were observed in those receiving only primary treatment. A toxicity identification evaluation study of effluent from one site identified the natural steroids/steroid metabolites dehydrotestosterone, androstenedione, androstanedione, 5beta-androstane-3alpha,11beta-diol-17-one, androsterone, and epi-androsterone as responsible for 99% of the in vitro activity determined in the effluent.

    Source: Thomas, Kevin V; Hurst, Mark R; Matthiessen, Peter; McHugh, Mathew; Smith, Andy; Waldock, Michael J. An assessment of in vitro androgenic activity and the identification of environmental androgens in United Kingdom estuaries. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry / SETAC, Vol. 21, Issue 7, July 2002, Pp. 1456-1461.

  • Use of constrained DET probe for a high-resolution determination of metals and anions in pore water - This study employed a constrained diffusive equilibrium in thin films (DET) probe filled with agarose gel to measure depth profiles of metals and anions in estuarine sediments at high-resolution. Equilibration time between an aqueous solution and the agarose gel was reached after 60 min for manganese, but in the presence of humic acids it was five times longer; as a result, for field applications a deployment time of 5¯24 h was applied. The subsequent elution of manganese into nitric acid was completed in less than 10 min. For agarose gel in contact with solutions of ions (cadmium, copper and manganese, bromide, chloride, nitrate and sulfate), recoveries obtained were close to 100%. The researchers applied DET probes in test laboratory sediment and established depth profiles for 19 elements (Ag, As, Ba, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sr, Tl, V, and Zn) and four anions (bromide, chloride, nitrate and sulfate). In the real sediment in the Authie (France) estuary, the pore water concentrations of iron and manganese using gel probes were comparable with those obtained by a conventional method.

    Source: H. Doekalová, O. Clarisse, S. Salomon and M. Wartel. Use of constrained DET probe for a high-resolution determination of metals and anions distribution in the sediment pore water. Talanta, Vo. 57, Issue 1, 22 April 2002, Pp. 145-155.

  • Resuspension, reactivity and recycling of trace metals in the Mersey Estuary, UK - The authors used four high-resolution axial transects to measure distributions of dissolved and non-detrital particulate Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn from the Mersey Estuary, UK. All dissolved metal concentrations displayed positive deviations, with the exception of copper. Magnitudes of dissolved metal peaks reflected the extent of metal enrichment in fine bed sediment compared with suspended particulate matter (SPM), a result which suggester that addition of dissolved metal was effected primarily by desorption from resuspendable bed particles. Results of an empirical sorption model indicated that bed sediment need only be moderately enriched in trace metal compared with SPM to cause measurable addition of dissolved metal to the overlying water column. The authors propose that resuspension of metal-enriched, fine bed sediment may be a significant route for metal remobilisation in contaminated, turbid estuaries.

    Source: M. Martino, A. Turner, M. Nimmo and G. E. Millward. Resuspension, reactivity and recycling of trace metals in the Mersey Estuary, UK. Marine Chemistry, Vol. 77, Issues 2-3, February 2002, Pp. 171-186.

Upcoming Conferences and Events

  • International Symposium on Sediment Quality Assessments - The Fifth International Symposium on Sediment Quality Assessments will be held October 16-18, 2002 in Chicago, Illinois. This symposium is the fifth in a series being organized by the Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management Society (AEHMS).
    The five principal areas for the 2002 conference are:
Sediment Transport and Contaminant Flux
Sediments and Watershed Management
Microbial Pathogens: Are Sediments A Risk?
Weight of Evidence and Risk-Based Decision Making
Emerging Technologies for Assessment and Remediation of Sediment
For further information, see the symposuim website at:
http://www.aehms.org/SQA5_event.html
  • 13th Annual West Coast Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments & Water - Conference will be held March 17-20, 2003 at the Marriott Mission Valley, San Diego, California. For more information visit the website: www.aehs.com/conferences/westcoast.
  • 18th International Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments & Water - The 18th Annual International Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments & Water will be held October 21-24, 2002 in Amherst, Massachusetts. The theme of this year's conference is "Expediting and Economizing Cleanups," and live equipment demonstrations will augment the exhibition section. Visit the conference website www.umasssoils.com for more information.

  • Second International Conference on the Remediation of Contaminated Sediments - The Second International Sediment Remediation Conference will be held in the autumn of 2003 in Venice, Italy. Organizers say the city is an ideal setting for a conference on this topic because of the sediments remediation efforts being exerted there by the local, regional, and national governments. The Call for Abstracts brochure is expected to be available in July 2002, and abstracts to be considered for the program will be due in December 2002. To request a copy of the Call for Abstracts, visit the Sediment Remediation Conference website.
  • Coastal Sediments 2003 - Coastal Sediments '03 is a multi-disciplinary international conference convened for researchers and practitioners to discuss science and engineering issues of coastal sediment processes. The conference will be held May 18-23, 2003 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Visit the website for more information: www.coastalsediments.net

  • 2nd International Symposium on Contaminated Sediments - Subtitled "Characterisation, Evaluation, Mitigation/Restoration, Management Strategy, and Performance." Conference to be held May 26-28, 2003 Quebec City, Canada. Visit the website for more information.
email the newsletter
 

 

Wastewater Management | Drinking Water | Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds

 
Begin Site Footer

EPA Home | Privacy and Security Notice | Contact Us