Comprehensive Final Project Report May, 2004

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Comprehensive Final Project Report May, 2004 Biogeochemistry of Mercury in Vermont and New Hampshire Lakes An Assessment of Mercury in Water, Sediment and Biota of Vermont and New Hampshire Lakes Comprehensive Final Project Report May, 2004 Project Funding Provided by United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development under the Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program Cooperative Agreement Number CR-82549501 Investigators: Neil Kamman Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation 103 S Main 10N Waterbury VT 05671-0408 802 241-3795 [email protected] Dr. Charles T. Driscoll Bob Estabrook Dr. David C. Evers Dr. Eric. K. Miller Syracuse University Biology Bureau Biodiversity Research Ecosystems Research Dep’t Civil and NH Department of Institute, Inc., Norwich, VT Environmental Engineering Environmental Services Falmouth ME A ssessment of Mercury in Waters, Sediments, and Biota of VT and NH Lakes Project. Draft Final Report. Page 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents......................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures.............................................................................................................................................. 5 Executive summary and recommendations ................................................................................................ 7 1.0 Introduction and acknowledgements..................................................................................................... 9 2.0 Project description, working hypotheses, and objectives .....................................................................11 2.1 General overview and experimental design .......................................................................................11 3.0 Site selection and sampling procedures ................................................................................................14 3.1 Sampling site selection ......................................................................................................................14 3.2 Site description and timing of collection...........................................................................................14 3.3 Sampling procedures .........................................................................................................................14 3.4 Sample custody..................................................................................................................................18 3.5 Field protocols ...................................................................................................................................19 4.0 Analytical procedures and calibration.................................................................................................. 23 5.0 Statistical approach to data analysis..................................................................................................... 25 6.0 Lakes sampled and data results ........................................................................................................... 27 6.1 Study lakes ........................................................................................................................................ 27 6.2 Water chemistry for core sampling lakes.......................................................................................... 32 6.3 Multiprobe profiles – core and paleolimnology lakes ...................................................................... 33 6.4 Sediment chemistry – core lakes ...................................................................................................... 34 6.5 Biological tissue chemistry............................................................................................................... 35 6.6 Paleolimnology of Hg in Vermont and New Hampshire lakes ....................................................... 36 7.0 Quality assurance and control result s .................................................................................................. 40 7.1 Water chemistry parameters ............................................................................................................. 40 7.2 Solid phase parameters..................................................................................................................... 40 7.3 Laboratory intercomparison for HgT................................................................................................41 7.4 Problems........................................................................................................................................... 42 8.0 Analysis of the project data .................................................................................................................. 43 8.1 Calculation of age-adjusted yellow perch fillet HgT means for each study lake ............................. 43 8.2 GIS analyses...................................................................................................................................... 44 8.3 Statistical evaluation of strata in the experimental design............................................................... 46 8.4 Cumulative frequency distribution diagrams................................................................................... 46 8.5 Evaluation of inter-annual variability and replicate sampling ......................................................... 49 Assessment of Mercury in Waters, Sediments, and Biota of VT and NH Lakes Project. Draft Final Report. Page 2 8.6 Evaluation of Hg variation in relation to trophic status....................................................................51 8.7 Calculation of Hg bioconcentration and bioaccumulation factors .................................................. 53 8.8 Relationships among variables – univariate correlations................................................................. 53 8.9 Principal components analysis - accounting for covariance among parameters ............................. 54 8.10 The influence of land-use on Hg .................................................................................................... 57 8.11 Development of candidate linear discriminant functions to predict tissue Hg levels in fillets given physicochemical data............................................................................................................................. 59 8.12 Summary of statistical analyses ...................................................................................................... 62 9.0 Estimation and mapping of atmospheric Hg deposition .................................................................... 64 9.1 Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 64 9.2 Concentrations of Hg species in the atmosphere ............................................................................ 64 9.3 Atmosphere-land surface transfers of Hg......................................................................................... 68 9.4 Tabulation of deposition results for the REMAP Lake-Watersheds............................................... 72 9.5 Discussion ........................................................................................................................................ 72 9.6 Deposition maps............................................................................................................................... 77 9.7 Relationship of deposition to in-lake Hg measures......................................................................... 79 10.0 Data Archive ....................................................................................................................................... 79 11.0 References ........................................................................................................................................... 80 Appendix A. Historical and present fluxes of mercury to Vermont and New Hampshire lakes inferred from 210Pb dated sediment cores ................................................................................................................ 86 Appendix B: Statistical Models of Atmospheric Hg Concentrations ....................................................... 87 Appendix C: Overview of the High Resolution Deposition Model.......................................................... 89 Assessment of Mercury in Waters, Sediments, and Biota of VT and NH Lakes Project. Draft Final Report. Page 3 List of Tables Table 2.1. Breakdown of number of lakes by strata and state.......................................................................................................12 Table 3.1. Referenced field sampling methods for water...................................................................................................................15 Table 4.1. Parameter table of referenced analytical procedures.........................................................................................................24 Table 5.0. Quality control sample frequency..................................................................................................................................25 Table 6.1. Roster of 103 lakes sampled.........................................................................................................................................28
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