Resuspension of Mercury-Contaminated Sediments from an In-Lake Industrial Waste Deposit
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 7
Abstract
The resuspension and transport of particulate mercury from a nearshore industrial waste deposit to the pelagic zone of Onondaga Lake, N.Y., was investigated using an array of sediment traps radiating from the deposit, and quantified through application of a steady-state mass balance model. Time-averaged downward fluxes of suspended solids and decreased in the offshore direction, indicating a nearshore source. Strong temporal variations in resuspension were documented and were linked to the dynamics of wind-driven wave action, as quantified by a validated surface wave model. A simple steady-state model of offshore transport from the resuspension zone, which assumes a balance between offshore transport and settling, was used to analyze sediment trap data. The resulting larger, and likely more accurate, estimate of resuspension represents the dominant contemporary source to the water column. This result supports the planned remediation of this source as a part of a Superfund cleanup project.
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Acknowledgments
Support for this study was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDCR-083091201-0). This is contribution No. UNSPECIFIED259 of the Upstate Freshwater Institute.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 7 • July 2009
Pages: 526 - 534
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 28, 2007
Accepted: Dec 9, 2008
Published online: Jun 15, 2009
Published in print: Jul 2009
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