Reconstructing Contaminant Deposition in a San Francisco Bay Marina, California
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 129, Issue 7
Abstract
Two sediment cores were collected from a marina in the San Francisco Bay to characterize historical sediment contamination resulting from the direct discharge of industrial wastewater from Naval Air Station Alameda. Depth profiles of trace metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, and radionuclides were determined with a 12-cm spacing down to a depth of 120 cm. The chronology of sediment accumulation is established by depth profiles of sedimentary time markers in conjunction with information on site history. The traditional approach of determining sediment accumulation rates by measuring atmospheric deposition was obscured by a larger source of in the sediments from the decay of anthropogenic likely from luminescent paints used at this facility and released to the marina. The sedimentation rates inferred from the data indicate that the greatest amount of contamination by trace metals and petroleum hydrocarbons took place between 1940 and 1960. In addition, anthropogenic activities are positively correlated with some of the contaminants in the sediments, allowing the wastewater discharged from the facility to be distinguished from baywide contamination. In locations such as this, where there is a complex history of contaminant deposition, a source-specific tracer may be the only feasible method of attributing historical contamination to a point source.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 129 • Issue 7 • July 2003
Pages: 659 - 666
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 17, 2001
Accepted: Sep 12, 2002
Published online: Jun 13, 2003
Published in print: Jul 2003
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