Geographical Distribution and Potential for Adverse Biological Effects ofSelected Trace Elements and Organic Compounds in Streambed Sediment in the Connecticut, Housatonic, and Thames River Basins, 1992-1994

摘要

Strambed-sediment samples were collected in 1992-94 at selected sites in theConnecticut, Housatonic, and Thames River Basins to determine the geographical distribution of trace elements and organic compounds and their potential for adverse biological effects on aquatic organisms. Chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc, chlordane, DDT, PAHs, and PCBs were detected in samples from throughout the basins, but concentrations of these constituents generally were lowest in the northern forested drainage basins and highest in the southern urbanized drainage basins of Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, Connecticut. Possible anthropogenic sources of these contaminants include industrial effluent; municipal wastewater runoff from agricultural, urban and forested areas; and atmospheric deposition.