The History of Poultry Waste Contamination in the Illinois River Watershed as Determined from Sediment Cores Collected from Tenkiller Ferry Reservoir (Oklahoma, United States)

摘要

The Illinois River, which is impounded near its downstream terminus to form Lake Tenkiller, drains a 4,330 km2 watershed (Illinois River Watershed) within an area of intensive poultry production in NW Arkansas and NE Oklahoma. Presently, poultry within the Illinois River Watershed annually produce ~354,000 tons of fecal contaminated waste, and nearly all of this waste is land-disposed by broadcast spreading without incorporation within ~8 km of where it was generated. Poultry feeds contain high levels of P, Cu, Zn and often As. Consequently, poultry feces are enriched in P, Cu, Zn and As. The geochemistry of sediments recovered from Lake Tenkiller is consistent with a mixture of uncontaminated soils in the region with the mineral constituents of poultry waste. Sediment concentrations of P, Cu, Zn and As are strongly correlated. Additionally, the temporal pattern of the sediment concentrations of these elements is consistent with the history of poultry production within the Illinois River Watershed, but is not consistent with changes in the population of humans and other animals within the Illinois River Watershed. The temporal change in sediment concentrations of Pb, an element that is not intentionally added to poultry feed, is consistent with the history of atmospheric inputs of Pb from leaded gasoline. KEYWORDS: Arkansas, Oklahoma, poultry, waste, contamination, sediment, geochemistry, geochronology.