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Sampling, Sorting, and Characterizing Microplastics in Aquatic Environments with High Suspended Sediment Loads and Large Floating Debris

The ubiquitous presence of plastic debris in the ocean is widely recognized by the public, scientific communities, and government agencies. However, only ...

Saint Louis University

Harmful algal blooms are increasingly common in aquatic ecosystems and have been linked to runoff from agricultural land. This study investigated the internal nutrient (i.e., phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N)) dynamics of a eutrophic reservoir in the Midwestern United States to constrain the potential for sedimentary nutrients to stimulate harmful algal blooms. The spatial distribution of nutrients in the water column (soluble reactive P (SRP), nitrate/nitrite-N (NO-N), and ammonium-N (NH-N)) and sediments (total P, total carbon (C), total N, and organic matter (OM)) were quantified and mapped. Water column nutrients varied spatially and temporally, with generally higher concentrations near the dam wall during normal lake levels. The upper portion of the lake, near the inlet, was sampled during a flood event and had overall higher nutrient concentrations and lower chlorophyll levels compared to normal lake level samples. Mean sedimentary total P (936mg/kg) was ~30% higher in the reservoir than the surrounding upland soils, with the highest concentrations near the dam wall (1661mg/kg) and a significant positive correlation found between sedimentary total P, total C, and OM. Additionally, 15 intact sediment cores were manipulated ex situ to examine mechanisms of nutrient flux across the sediment-water interface (SWI) that may trigger algal blooms. Core treatment conditions included advection (i.e., simulating potential nutrient fluxes during wind events through sediment resuspension) and diffusion. Core experiments indicated both advective and diffusive conditions at the SWI may trigger the flux of nutrients important for algal growth from lake sediments, with diffusion contributing both N and P to the water column, while intense advection increased water column N, but decreased P. Release of P to the water column may be more diffusion-driven than advection-driven, whereas N release to the water column appears to be both diffusion- and advection-driven.

Characterizing nutrient distributions and fluxes in a eutrophic reservoir, Midwestern United States.

Road deicing has caused widespread environmental Na and Cl release for decades, yet the transport and retention of these contaminants in karst aquifers and soils are poorly understood. We examined the transport dynamics of Na and Cl from road salt in shallow groundwater during flooding and over seasonal timescales by intensively monitoring an urban and a rural karst spring over approximately 2 years. Furthermore, we used a 20-year dataset for the rural spring to determine how salt retention affected long-term geochemical trends in the shallow groundwater. Salt transport was governed by hydrologic pathways through karst aquifers: during winter and early spring floods, flow through preferential pathways rapidly transported salty meltwater or stormwater over hours to days, while the remaining salt-contaminated water moved diffusely through the rock matrix on timescales of months to years. Flood hydrograph separations revealed that event water constituted 61.2% of stormflow on average at the urban spring, leading to more extreme variability in salt concentrations during flooding and throughout the year. This variability indicates that baseflow contributions to urban streams overlying karst aquifers with preferential flowpaths are likely less effective at buffering salt concentrations. In contrast, salt concentrations were less variable in the baseflow-dominated rural spring (28.7% event water). Furthermore, salt was episodically released from soils to shallow groundwater throughout the year during first flush events. A Cl mass balance indicates that Cl applied during previous winters persists within the springs' recharge basins for more than a year, raising baseline concentrations as road salt is introduced faster than it can be flushed from the basin. Inter-annual salt retention by soils or slow groundwater movement likely caused significant Cl and specific conductivity (SpC) increases at the rural spring from 1996 to 2016. Accumulation of salt in shallow groundwater can elevate baseflow concentrations in surface waters, where it threatens aquatic organisms.

Elizabeth A. Hasenmueller

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Saint Louis University

Sampling, Sorting, and Characterizing Microplastics in Aquatic Environments with High Suspended Sediment Loads and Large Floating Debris

Elizabeth A. Hasenmueller

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Saint Louis University

Sampling, Sorting, and Characterizing Microplastics in Aquatic Environments with High Suspended Sediment Loads and Large Floating Debris

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences