Sarah Gerould Bureau Program Coordinator, Contaminant Biology Program

1. Overview of USGS PBT Activities Sarah Gerould Bureau Program Coordinator, Contaminant Biology Program

2. Scope of Activities Data • Source • Deposition • Concentrations • Monitoring Interpretation • Cycling • Exposure • Effects

3. Sources • National Coal Quality Database- occurrence of mercury in coal • Mining – mineral deposits; historic gold mining • Statistics for mineral commodities • Materials flow- changes in mercury use and extraction Source: Robert Finkelman

4. US Mercury Consumption http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/pub/circulars/c1197/ http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/mercury/

5. Hg Deposition • Cores in ice and snow, sediment (reservoirs, NE lakes • National database of concentration in soil and sediment (NURE) (Hg) • Downwind dispersion from point sources • Lichen: National Parks and Dispersion from geothermal areas • Atmospheric deposition MDN • Deposition in Geologic time: effects of climate

6. Ice Core Data: 270-year Record - Hg • Major atmospheric releases • Natural • Background (42%) • Volcanic (6%) • Anthropogenic (52%) • Gold rush • WWII • Industrialization The last 100 years anthropogenic: 70% The last 10 years an apparent decline Source: David Krabbenhoft

7. Concentrations • Lichen, wild rice, soil, aquatic and estuarine sediment, constructed wetlands • Concentrations and cycling in reservoirs and impoundments and alpine lakes • Effects of fire on environmental concentrations

8. National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program1970-1986 • National network - temporal and geographic trends • Hg, PCBs and other OCs • Freshwater fish, starlings, and duck wings Source: Tim Bartish, Chris Schmitt http://www.cerc.cr.usgs.gov/data/ncbp/ncbp.html

9. BEST – Fish in Large Rivers 1995/1997 Fish Sampling Locations • Shoreline or backwater areas of large, non-wadable rivers • Predator (bass) and forage fish (carp or suckers) • Chemical (including Hg) and H4IIE analysis • EROD and biomarkers Source: Tim Bartish

10. Cycle I • Occurrence, status and distribution • Hg, PCBs • Sediment, fish liver • VOC Synthesis - • Petroleum products, other industrial chemicals

11. NAWQA Cycle II Hg Bioaccumulation in Fish Topical study • Mark Brigham - leader (mbrigham@usgs.gov) • Detailed cycling and food-chain analysis • landscape types -- Urban, Mining, Cultivated Ag., Reference • “Status” sampling • 1x per site all study units • Hg and MeHg and ancillary measurements • Fish fillet (piscivorous gamefish where possible) • Water, suspended particulates, streambed sediment,

12. Databases • Contaminant Exposure and Effects - Terrestrial Vertebrates (CEE-TV) • Madison mercury database • NCBP • NAWQA • Coal Quality Database • Mineral Resources database • National Geochemistry database - soils and sediment

14. Contaminant Exposure and Effects-Terrestrial Vertebrates Database • Sources: • Computerized Literature Searches • “Gray” Literature • Letters of Solicitation • Telephone Inquiries • Electronic Database Searches • 1938 to present • Taxonomic Composition • 10.3% Mammals • 83.3% Birds • 5.7 % Reptiles • <0.5% Amphibians WWW.PWRC.USGS.GOV/CEETV

15. DDE and PCB in Osprey Eggs on the Atlantic Coast

16. Interpretation

17. Cycling, Transport, Bioaccumulation, Distribution • Riverine loads from mined areas, urban areas • Cycling in Everglades, mined areas • Concentrations and cycling in reservoirs, impoundments and alpine lakes • Cycling and sources in Experimental Lakes Area – METAALICUS • Movement through aquatic food webs

18. Location of WDMRL Project Sites Freemont Glacier Ice Core Dating Study METAALICUS Hg Loading Study Yukon River Assessment High Mountain Lakes Mercury Study NAWQA-NECB Urban gradient study Location of NAWQA-Toxics sampling sites ACME Project in the Everglades Source: David Krabbenhoft

19. 2 R = 0.82 HgT vs MeHg for High Elevation Lakes 0.450 Photodemethylation effect 0.400 National Synoptic 0.350 0.300 0.250 MeHg (ng/L) 0.200 0.150 0.100 High Mountain Lakes 0.050 0.000 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 HgT (ng/L)

20. Methyl Hg in High Elevation Lakes vs Total Hg in fish Source: David Krabbenhoft

21. Effects and Bioaccumulation Survival of clapper rail embryos through 90% of incubation Birds • Lab Toxicity: mallards and embryos of fish-eating birds, endocrine disruption • Field, effects, metabolism and bioaccumulation: tree swallows, fish-eating birds, kestrels Aquatic Life • Lab: Bass and carp health, reproductive toxicity • Field: Fish and Mussel bioaccumulation, Forest fire effects Source: Gary Heinz

22. Lessons Learned: National Water Quality Monitoring Council Reconciliation of multiple program objectives • Divergent questions, program design, implementation strategy, and use of data • Uses/limitations of data determined by collection and analytical protocols.

23. Monitoring Solutions/goals  Get people together early – design field and lab protocols to meet objectives  Accept differences but document data to facilitate data selection, synthesis and use  Consistent scientifically defensible and comparable data  Compatible designs for monitoring programs  Accepted methods to compare and interpret data

24. Workgroups • Accreditation of field and laboratory methods • Comparability of methods and metadata • Selection of appropriate methods National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI), (a support system) • Interaction of watershed components: ground and surface water • Collaboration Outreach and Publicity - states and regions • Performance-based methods - implementing PBM for field or analytical methods