Background and Comparison of Water-Quality, Streambed-Sediment, and Biological Characteristics of Streams in the Viburnum Trend and the Exploration Study Areas, Southern Missouri, 1995 and 2001 Water-Resources Investigations Report 03–4285 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Background and Comparison of Water-Quality, Streambed-Sediment, and Biological Characteristics of Streams in the Viburnum Trend and the Exploration Study Areas, Southern Missouri, 1995 and 2001 By Suzanne R. Femmer Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4285 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Charles G. Groat, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2004 For sale by U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/ Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorse ment by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to repro duce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Suggested citation: Femmer, Suzanne R., 2004, Background and comparison of water-quality, streambed-sediment, and biological charac teristics of streams in the Viburnum Trend and the exploration study areas, southern Missouri, 1995 and 2001: U.S. Geo logical Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4285, 18 p. iii CONTENTS Abstract. 1 Introduction . 1 Purpose and Scope . 3 Description of Study Areas. 3 Methods of Study . 4 Site Selection . 4 Sampling Methods. 4 Statistical Methods . 6 Background Characteristics and Statistical Comparisons. 6 Water Quality . 6 Streambed Sediment. 9 Biological Characteristics . 12 Fish Tissue. 12 Habitat Characteristics . 12 Invertebrate Community . 15 Summary. 16 References. 17 FIGURES 1. Maps showing study areas, stream-water quality, streambed-sediment, and biological sampling sites for investigation of background characteristics. .2 2–5. Photographs showing: 2. Aquatic invertebrates, such as the Hellgrammite, were surveyed as part of the biological investigation . .3 3. Big Spring and Greer Spring, two large springs with recharge areas in the exploration area. .4 4. The Eleven Point River at Turner’s Mill sampling site, looking downstream, 2001 . .5 5. Hurricane Creek at the Ozark Trail sampling site, looking downstream, 2001. .5 6. Graph showing bacteria density at the sampled sites, 1995 and 2001. .9 7. Hierarchal clustering using Euclidean distances and single linkages for invertebrate community data collected in the Viburnum Trend and exploration study areas, 1995 and 2001. 16 iv TABLES 1. Water-quality data from sites sampled in the ViburnumTrend and the exploration study areas, 1995 and 2001. .7 2. Streambed-sediment data from sites sampled in the Viburnum Trend and the exploration study areas, 1995 and 2001. 10 3. Trace element concentrations in fish tissue samples from the Virburnum Trend and the exploration study areas, 1995 and 2001. 13 4. Habitat characteristics of sites sampled in the Viburnum Trend and the exploration study areas, 1995 and 2001. 14 5. Abundance and diversity data for invertebrate samples in the Viburnum Trend and the exploration study areas, 1995 and 2001. 15 6. Pearson correlation matrix for invertebrate samples collected from each sampling site . 15 VERTICAL DATUM Vertical coordinate information is referenced to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29). Elevation, as used in this report, refers to distance above or below NGVD 29. NGVD 29 can be converted to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) by using the National Geodetic Survey conversion utility available at URL http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/TOOLS/Vertcon/ vertcon.html. Background and Comparison of Water-Quality, Streambed-Sediment, and Biological Characteristics of Streams in the Viburnum Trend and the Exploration Study Areas, Southern Missouri, 1995 and 2001 By Suzanne R. Femmer Abstract Bonne Terre—Flat River (Park Hills) area (Old Lead Belt; fig. 1), and mining continued in that area through the early 1950’s. By 1907, Missouri had become the leader in lead ore production Missouri has a long history of lead mining in the Park Hills in the United States, a title the State still holds (St. Louis Post- and Viburnum Trend areas. Lead ore production has been a sig­ Dispatch, June 2, 2002). The Old Lead Belt produced lead ore nificant economic presence since the settlement of Missouri in steadily (peaking during World War II) until the 1950’s when the 1700’s. As lead sources are depleted in active mining areas, the ore mineral content reached about 2 percent lead, and was new areas are being explored for economical ore bodies. The no longer economical to extract. Attention then shifted to the exploration area south of Winona, a possible extension of the area of the 1955 discovery of lead-zinc deposits around Vibur­ Viburnum Trend lead-producing area, lies in an area of intense num (fig. 1). This new source of economical ore, the Viburnum interest because of its scenic beauty and sensitive environment. Trend, was producing lead by the mid-1960’s. Eight under­ Water-quality, streambed-sediment, fish tissue, instream ground mines were in operation between 1960 and 1973 and riparian habitat, and invertebrate-community samples were (Warner and others, 1974). During 2000, there were nine active collected from three sites in the Viburnum Trend for the mines in the Viburnum Trend producing lead ore and its associ­ National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program Black ated minerals, zinc and copper. River synoptic study in 1995 and from four sites in the explora­ tion study area in 2001. The samples, which were collected Although lead-zinc exploration has continued in southern using NAWQA protocols, were analyzed and compared to Missouri since the 1960’s, exploration for new lead deposits establish background conditions and similarities between sites. began in earnest during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s because Bacteria, lead, and zinc concentrations were substantially of declining economical ore reserves in the Viburnum Trend. different between the study areas. Habitat characteristics, such The area south of Winona and north of the Eleven Point River as streambed substrate size and embeddedness were similar. (fig. 1) is an area of intense interest to mining companies The Eleven Point River at Turner’s Mill is substantially larger because it is considered to be a possible extension of the Vibur­ in size than the other six surveyed sites. Trace element concen­ num Trend. More than 300 boreholes have been drilled in the trations in fish tissue samples collected in the two study areas general area between Winona, Big Spring, and Greer Spring are similar. Samples from both areas had elevated mercury lev­ since the recent exploration began. els. Invertebrate community data indicated similarity among the Land use is known to affect aquatic communities in many Viburnum Trend study area sites, but these sites had little in ways. Changes in vegetation and the disturbance of soils create common with the exploration study area sites. The invertebrate the potential for altered runoff, sediment yield, and biological, community structure in the exploration study area were not sim­ chemical, and physical stream characteristics. There generally ilar. is a sequence of action from land use change to the alteration of the physical and chemical habitat to changes in stream biota. Land use disturbances, such as mining, often cause changes in Introduction streambed material and channel morphology (Graf and others, 1995) and changes in the chemical makeup of the water and Lead mining has been a part of Missouri history from the sediment. Bioassessments of stream communities provide an time French prospectors discovered and mined lead from the overall index of stream health. Analyses suggest that without Mine La Motte area near Fredericktown (fig. 1) in the 1700’s. bioassessments there is a risk of not identifying land use effects During the 1860’s, lead mining activities moved north to the to our streams (Rankin, 1995). 2 Characteristics of Streams in the Viburnum Trend and the Exploration Study Areas, Southern Missouri, 1995 and 2001 The study area for the Viburnum Trend includes the upper Black River Basin, the Huzzah and Courtois Creek Basins, and part of the Current River Basin near Blue Spring. 91° Cuba Courto Kansas 38° is City Huzz Potosi MISSOURI St. Louis Steelville a h Park Hills CRAWFORD Old Lead Belt Study Creek WASHINGTON Fredericktown C areas r e e k k Viburnum Bell Mountain Viburnum Wilderness Trend IRON mining district DENT 1 EXPLANATION Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park STATE FOREST 2 Bla k 37°30¢ c OZARK NATIONAL SCENIC RIVERWAYS Bunker ELEVEN POINT WILD AND SCENIC RIVER 3 R Annapolis iv e LEAD-ZINC MINE r TAILINGS PILE SHANNON REYNOLDS Cu rre 1 SAMPLING SITE AND MAP NUMBER n (table 1) t Ellington Blue Spring Clearwater Lake 0 5 10 MILES Eminence R 0 5 10 KILOMETERS iv er CARTER WAYNE 92° 91°30¢ Mountain SHANNON Winona Van Buren View Cu 37° Willow Springs rr en Big t 4 S p ring Spring H u r CARTER C r Cre k i r c Ele e v a en e e k n 5 e Point 6 R iv e Greer r Spring 7 OREGON Riv West Alton e r Plains HOWELL RIPLEY Thayer 36°30¢.