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New England Coastal Basins Mercury Deposition Network

BACKGROUND

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) New England Coastal Basins (NECB) study, water and bed sediment were sampled during 1998 - 2000 from 55 stream sites from Rhode Island to Maine. Fish tissue was sampled at 27 of those 55 sites. Results of this sampling suggest that urban areas may have increased total mercury (HgT) concentrations in water and sediment, but lowered concentrations of mercury in fish as shown in the following figures.
click images to enlarge
click for map of HgT in Water
WATER		 click for map of HgT in sediment
SEDIMENT 		click for map of HgT in Fish tissue
FISH

Atmospheric deposition of mercury is widely accepted as the principal source of mercury contamination in aquatic systems (Watras and others, 1994, Swain and others, 1992). The New England Coastal Basins (NECB) study area is located in the region of highest mercury deposition in the contiguous United States (Keating and others, 1996). Atmospheric mercury monitoring is limited in New England and does not currently include sufficient monitoring sites to be able to detect spatial variations throughout the NECB study area.

The goals of the atmospheric monitoring network are to:

  • assist in interpretations of the water, sediment, and fish-tissue data
  • test a new atmospheric monitor (N-CON) that has potential use by the USGS in other atmospheric monitoring programs
  • provide total and methyl mercury deposition data in more urban areas of eastern New England.

The four-site deposition-monitoring program was designed with the assistance of Dave Krabbenhoft and Mark Nilles of the USGS, Eric Prestbo of Frontier Environmental Lab, and Alan VanArsdale of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1. Assistance in the operation and funding of the monitors is provided by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, the Blue Hill Observatory, and the Ipswich/Parker EMPACT study.

 

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U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
New Hampshire/Vermont Water Science Center, USGS, 361 Commerce Way, Pembroke, NH 03275, USA
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Last Updated September 6, 2006
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