Contaminants assessment of intertidal resources in southeast Alaska national parks—2007 to 2011
Tallmon DA. 2012. Contaminants assessment of intertidal resources in southeast Alaska national parks—2007 to 2011. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/SEAN/NRTR—2012/630. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (GLBA), Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park (SITK), and Sitka National Historic Park (SITK) form the network of US National Parks in Southeast Alaska (SEAN). The purpose of this report is to provide the results of a rigorous baseline assessment of existing contamination levels in the SEAN parks. Intertidal bay mussel samples were collected at a large number of sites in and near each of the parks in July and August 2007. At some of the same sites, sediment samples were also collected. Additional mussel samples were collected from six sites in GLBA and SITK in both 2009 and 2011. The samples were analyzed to determine levels of several metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and persistent organic pollutants (POP) in SEAN parks. Overall, marine contamination levels in and around SEAN parks are low. Although there are a few sites at which contamination levels are elevated, these sites are close to centers of human activity and potential point sources. The overall patterns of contamination suggest most of the impacted sites are affected primarily by local, rather than regional or global sources. However, the low levels of contamination in mussels throughout SEAN parks suggest the intertidal zones are relatively pristine when compared to mussel contaminants datasets from the rest of the US.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Tallmon, David
- Date of Issue
- 2012-10
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GLBA , KLGO , NRSS , SEAN , SITK
- Keywords
- marine contaminants, pah, persistent organic pollutants, Polyaromatic hydrocarbons, pop
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Toxics