Study Report for Summer 2004 Bioturbation
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STUDY REPORT FOR THE SUMMER 2004 BIOTURBATION MEASUREMENT PROGRAM ON THE PALOS VERDES SHELF July 2005 Prepared for: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District 915 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90017 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region IX Superfund Division (SFD-7-1) 75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105 Prepared by: Science Applications International Corporation 10260 Campus Point Drive San Diego, CA 92121 SAIC Report Number 679 Study Report for the Summer 2004 Bioturbation Measurement Program Conducted on the Palos Verdes Shelf Prepared for: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Los Angeles District Region IX 915 Wilshire Boulevard Superfund Division (SFD-7-1) Los Angeles, CA 90017 75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105 July 2005 Prepared by: Science Applications International Corporation 10260 Campus Point Drive San Diego, CA 92121 SAIC Report Number 679 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................................v LIST OF APPENDICES..............................................................................................................................vi 1.0 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 2.0 METHODS ......................................................................................................................................6 2.1 BIO DATA....................................................................................................................................6 2.2 SEDIMENT MIXING/BIOTURBATION RATES...............................................................................10 2.3 OTHER DATA SOURCES .............................................................................................................14 2.3.1 SPI and Plan-View Data........................................................................................................14 2.3.2 LACSD Data .........................................................................................................................16 2.3.3 Bioturbation Literature Search..............................................................................................16 3.0 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................................17 3.1 LARGE BIO ................................................................................................................................17 3.1.1 Community Overview...........................................................................................................17 3.1.2 Key Species...........................................................................................................................30 3.2 SPI AND PLAN-VIEW .................................................................................................................30 3.3 SEDIMENT MIXING AND BIOTURBATION RATES .......................................................................40 3.4 LACSD INFAUNAL DATA..........................................................................................................45 3.5 BIOTURBATION LITERATURE SEARCH.......................................................................................45 4.0 DISCUSSION................................................................................................................................48 4.1 BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITY PATTERNS .......................................................................................51 4.2 SEDIMENT MIXING AND BIOTURBATION RATES .......................................................................55 5.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................57 REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................................................59 Final Study Report for the Summer 2004 Bioturbation Measurement Program ii Conducted on the Palos Verdes Shelf LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1-1. General Study Area Location. Figure 2.1-1. Station Locations for BIO, Vertical Mixing Rates/Bioturbation, SPI/Plan-View Photographs, and LACSD Data Collections on the Palos Verdes Shelf. Figure 3.1-1. Mean Number of BIO Taxa by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-2. Mean Abundance of BIO by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-3. Mean Biomass (g) of BIO by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-4. Relationship Between Mean Abundance and Biomass (g) of BIO by Station and Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-5. Mean Abundance (“head” count) of the Ghost Shrimp, Neotrypaea, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-6. Mean Abundance (“head” count) of the Polychaete, Marphysa, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-7. Mean Biomass (g; all specimens combined) of the Ghost Shrimp, Neotrypaea, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-8. Mean Biomass (g; all specimens combined) of the Polychaete, Marphysa, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-9. Mean Abundance versus Mean Biomass (g) of the Ghost Shrimp, Neotrypaea, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-10. Mean Abundance versus Mean Biomass (g) of the Polychaete, Marphysa, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-11. Mean Abundance versus Mean Total Length (mm; all specimens combined) of the Ghost Shrimp, Neotrypaea, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.1-12. Mean Abundance versus Mean Total Length (mm; all specimens combined) of the Polychaete, Marphysa, by Core Depth Interval, July/August 2004. Figure 3.3-1. Excess Lead-210 (dpm/g) Versus Core Depth (cm) at Four Stations on the Palos Verdes Shelf. Figure 3.3-2. Biodiffusivity Values and Sedimentation Rates, 2004. Figure 3.3-3. Profiles of Excess Thorium-234 Versus Depth for Replicate Stations in the Northern Portion of the Study Area. Figure 3.4-1. Total Infaunal Abundance by LACSD Station, per 0.1 m2 Core, Summer 2003. Final Study Report for the Summer 2004 Bioturbation Measurement Program iii Conducted on the Palos Verdes Shelf Figure 3.4-2. Total Infaunal Biomass (g) by LACSD Station, per 0.1 m2 Core, Summer 2003. Figure 4.1-1. Box and Whisker Plot Summary of Number of Taxa (top), Abundance (middle), and Biomass (bottom) by Interval, Standardized to 0.1m2. Final Study Report for the Summer 2004 Bioturbation Measurement Program iv Conducted on the Palos Verdes Shelf LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1-1. DQO Process for the Bioturbation Assessment. Table 2.1-1. Site Coordinates (UTM Zone 11N), Core Lengths, and Core Collection Dates from BIO Surveys, July/August 2004. Table 2.1-2. Site Coordinates (UTM Zone 11N) and Core Collection Dates from Sediment Mixing Rates/Bioturbation Surveys, July 2004. Table 2.1-3. Site Coordinates (UTM Zone 11N) and Collection Dates from SPI/Plan-View Surveys, July 2004. Table 3.1-1. BIO Taxa by Phylum, July/August 2004. Table 3.1-2. Mean Number of Taxa by Station, Core Depth Interval, and Taxonomic Group, July/August 2004. Table 3.1-3. Mean Abundance by Station, Core Depth Interval, and Taxonomic Group, July/August 2004. Table 3.1-4. Mean Biomass (g) by Station, Core Depth Interval, and Taxonomic Group, July/August 2004. Table 4.1-1. Study Objectives and Approach for Box Coring and Infaunal Analyses. Table 4.1-2. Study Objectives and Approach for Sediment Dating Analyses. Final Study Report for the Summer 2004 Bioturbation Measurement Program v Conducted on the Palos Verdes Shelf LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A. Results Summary from Bioturbating Infaunal Organisms (BIO) Survey at Palos Verdes Shelf Stations, July/August 2004. Table A-1. Summary of BIO Data, July/August 2004. Table A-2. Summary of Bioturbation Literature Search Results. Appendix B. Results Summary and Photographs from Sediment-Profile Imagery (SPI) and Plan-View Camera Survey at Palos Verdes Shelf Stations, July 2004. Figure B-1. Photographs from Sediment-Profile Imagery (SPI) and Plan-View Camera, July 2004. Table B-1. Summary of SPI Results, July 2004. Table B-2. Plan-View Results, July 2004. Appendix C. Results Summary from Sediment Mixing Rates/Bioturbation Potential Survey at Palos Verdes Shelf Stations, July 2004. Table C-1. Total and Excess Pb-210 Results from Sediment Cores. Table C-2. Total and Excess Th-234 Data from Detailed Stations. Table C-3. Th-234 data from Comparison Stations, with the Resultant Calculated 2 Biodiffusivities (Db, cm /yr). Final Study Report for the Summer 2004 Bioturbation Measurement Program vi Conducted on the Palos Verdes Shelf 1.0 INTRODUCTION Overview The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approved an Investigation Work Plan (IWP) in July 2004 (SAIC 2004a) that detailed a field investigation and analyses to characterize large bioturbating infaunal organisms (BIO) and evaluate sediment mixing/ bioturbation rates on the Palos Verdes (PV) Shelf (Task 4). The IWP was developed to address questions pertaining to potential effects of bioturbation on cap integrity that were deemed high priority for the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS). Answers to these questions will benefit both the feasibility study and