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Bottom sediment as a source of organic contaminants in Lake Mead, Nevada, USA
- Source :
- Chemosphere. 88:605-611
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2012.
-
Abstract
- Treated wastewater effluent from Las Vegas, Nevada and surrounding communities' flow through Las Vegas Wash (LVW) into the Lake Mead National Recreational Area at Las Vegas Bay (LVB). Lake sediment is a likely sink for many hydrophobic synthetic organic compounds (SOCs); however, partitioning between the sediment and the overlying water could result in the sediment acting as a secondary contaminant source. Locating the chemical plumes may be important to understanding possible chemical stressors to aquatic organisms. Passive sampling devices (SPMDs and POCIS) were suspended in LVB at depths of 3.0, 4.7, and 6.7 (lake bottom) meters in June of 2008 to determine the vertical distribution of SOCs in the water column. A custom sediment probe was used to also bury the samplers in the sediment at depths of 0-10, 10-20, and 20-30cm. The greatest number of detections in samplers buried in the sediment was at the 0-10cm depth. Concentrations of many hydrophobic SOCs were twice as high at the sediment-water interface than in the mid and upper water column. Many SOCs related to wastewater effluents, including fragrances, insect repellants, sun block agents, and phosphate flame retardants, were found at highest concentrations in the middle and upper water column. There was evidence to suggest that the water infiltrated into the sediment had a different chemical composition than the rest of the water column and could be a potential risk exposure to bottom-dwelling aquatic organisms.
- Subjects :
- Geologic Sediments
Environmental Engineering
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Permeability
Sink (geography)
Water column
Insect repellants
Environmental Chemistry
Organic Chemicals
Effluent
Chemical composition
Hydrology
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Environmental engineering
Membranes, Artificial
General Medicine
General Chemistry
Contamination
Pollution
Lakes
Wastewater
Environmental science
Bay
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Nevada
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00456535
- Volume :
- 88
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Chemosphere
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ed1a2e5eab03cdfd59b8f0a9f9e3fd61