HR: 1340h
AN: B23B-1049    [Abstracts]
TI: Determining the Chemical and Biological Availability of Zinc in Urban Stormwater Retention Ponds
AU: * Camponelli, K
EM: kmcamponelli@aol.com
AF: Towson University Dept. of Chemistry Environmental Science Program, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001 United States
AU: Casey, R
EM: RCasey@towson.edu
AF: Towson University Dept. of Chemistry Environmental Science Program, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001 United States
AU: Lev, S M
EM: slev@towson.edu
AF: Towson University Dept. of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences Environmental Science Program, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001 United States
AU: Landa, E R
EM: erlanda@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Division National Research Program (Geochemistry), 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Mail Stop 430, Reston, VA 20192 United States
AU: Snodgrass, J
EM:
AF: Towson University Dept. of Biological Sciences, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001 United States
AB: Highway runoff has the potential to negatively impact receiving systems due to transport of contaminants that accumulate on road surfaces. Metals such as copper and zinc are major components of automobile brake pads and tires, respectively. As these automobile parts are degraded, these metal containing particulates are deposited on the roadway and are washed into storm water retention ponds and surface water bodies during precipitation events. It has been estimated that 15 to 60% of the Zn in urban stormwater runoff comes from tire wear and that tire wear is a significant source of Zn to the environment with release inventories comparable to waste incineration sources. In urban and sub-urban systems, this large source of Zn can accumulate in stormwater retention ponds which serve as habitat for a variety of species. Understanding the chemical and biological availability of Zn to biota is integral to assessing the habitat quality of retention ponds. This study is a first effort to relate the amount and speciation of Zn in a retention pond to Zn inputs through highway-derived runoff events. In addition, results suggest that the chemical speciation and availability of particulate Zn can be related to the bioavailability and toxicity of Zn to pond organisms (i.e. larval amphibians). The study site in Owings Mills, MD is located next to a four-lane highway from which it receives runoff through a single culvert. Five species of anurans are known to utilize the pond as a breeding site and Zn in amphibian tissues and retention pond sediments were highly elevated at this site in 2001 and 2002. A recent analysis of pond sediments, soils, roadway dust and storm water collected at this site suggests that roadway particulate matter transported during runoff events is the dominant source of Zn in this system. Overall, Zn and other trace metals were found to be most abundant in the clay sized faction of pond sediments and soils. The pond cores were found to have higher Zn and Cu concentrations at both the surface and a deeper interval possibly related to a change in land use during the pond's history. Pond sediments are above natural soil background for both Zn and Cu and represent mixing between the roadway particulates and local soils. It is therefore likely that these particulates are the primary source of metals to the pond.
DE: 0409 Bioavailability: chemical speciation and complexation
DE: 0486 Soils/pedology (1865)
DE: 0489 Trace element cycling (4875)
DE: 0493 Urban systems
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005