HR: 0830h
AN: B11C-0710    [PDF]
TI: Examination of Environmental Trends in Hawaii Based on the Trace Element Distributions in Cores of the Kiawe tree (Prosopis pallida)
AU: Parry, Y S
EM: yparry@soest.hawaii.edu
AF: Department of Oceanography, 1000 Pope Road University of Hawii, Honolulu, HI 96822
AU: * De Carlo, E H
EM: edecarlo@soest.hawaii.edu
AF: Department of Oceanography, 1000 Pope Road University of Hawii, Honolulu, HI 96822
AU: Spengler, S R
EM: srspengler@hawaii.rr.com
AF: Environet, 2850 Paa Street Suite 212, Honolulu, HI 96819
AB: Annual growth rings of trees have the potential for providing a chronology of bioavailable contaminants extant in the environment in which the trees grow. Recent studies have documented a significant correlation between concentrations of metals in atmospheric particulate matter and those observed in surface and groundwater. The Kiawe (Prosopis pallida), a hardwood tree commonly found in Hawaii, represents a potential environmental tape recorder because of its life span on the order of multiple decades. Because the Kiawe is phreatophytic and has high transpiration rates, it may be ideally suited to examine past (temporal) and current (spatial) variability in the quality of groundwater where these trees grow. Because of the potential correlation between airborne and groundwater pollution we hypothesize that growth rings of Kiawe may yield clues to help unravel recent (50-100 yrs) changes in contamination patterns in Hawaii. We will present concentrations of trace elements (Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Sb, and Pb) in cores of Kiawe trees growing on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Oahu, the locus of more than 80 percent of the population of the State of Hawaii, is heavily urbanized, but other land uses include agriculture, conservation (rainforest), and military reservations, where live-fire military training activities over the past 60 years have raised public concern about potential contamination of natural resources. Preliminary analyses indicate that trace element concentrations in Kiawe wood range from a less than one to tens of micrograms per kilogram, depending on the element and the provenance of the tree.
DE: 0400 Biogeosciences
DE: 1065 Trace elements (3670)
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 4805 Biogeochemical cycles (1615)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting