Organic chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, sediments, and toxic metals collected in the Puget Sound on 01 June 1999 (NCEI Accession 0000054)
As a component of a three year cooperative effort of the Washington State Department of Ecology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sediments from 100 locations in northern Puget Sound were tested to determine their relative quality. The purpose of this survey was to determine the quality of sediments in terms of the severity, spatial patterns, and spatial extent of chemical contamination, toxicity, and alterations to benthic infauna. The survey area encompassed the region from Port Gardner Bay north to the US / Canada border, excluding the San Juan Islands. Surficial sediments were tested and analyzed from each of the 100 locations. Data from the chemical analyses indicated that toxicologically significant contamination was restricted in scope to a relatively small portion of the region. The spatial extent of relatively severe contamination varied considerably among chemicals; however, less than 2% of the area was considered contaminated for most substances. Sediments from several sampling locations within Everett Harbor often had the highest chemical concentrations. In addition, samples from some stations in Bellingham Bay and other locations scattered throughout the study area had elevated concentrations of some substances. Data from four kinds of toxicity tests indicated a similar pattern: the degree of toxicity was highest in samples from Everett Harbor followed by those from other locations scattered within the survey region. The spatial extent of significant toxicity ranged from 0% to 5% among the toxicity tests. Wide ranges in several numerical indices of benthic infaunal structure indicated good correspondence with tests of toxicity and the concentrations of numerous chemical substances. That is, there was evidence of altered benthic populations in some areas nearest urban centers. Chemical contamination and toxicity of sediments were less severe in northern Puget Sound than in many other estuarine areas studied in the U.S. by NOAA. Results from similar analyses of samples from the central Puget Sound (sampled in 1998) and southern Puget Sound (sampled in 1999) will be compiled with the data from northern Puget Sound, to provide a broad-scale evaluation and quantitation of the spatial scales and patterns in sediment quality throughout the entire region.
Dataset Citation
- Cite as: Long, Edward R; Washington State Department of Ecology (2001). Organic chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, sediments, and toxic metals collected in the Puget Sound on 01 June 1999 (NCEI Accession 0000054). [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0000054. Accessed [date].
Dataset Identifiers
ISO 19115-2 Metadata
gov.noaa.nodc:0000054
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Time Period | 1997-06-01 to 1997-06-01 |
Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates |
West: -122.993367
East: -122.2183
South: 47.968617
North: 48.994983
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Dataset Progress Status | Complete - production of the data has been completed Historical archive - data has been stored in an offline storage facility |
Data Update Frequency | As needed |
Supplemental Information | The publication(s) listed below are related to the data collection and are available from the NOAA Central Library: Sediment quality in Puget Sound. Year 1, northern Puget Sound, December 1999. Silver Spring, Md. : National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment ; Olympia, Wash. : Washington State Dept. of Ecology, Environmental Assessment Program, Environmental Monitoring and Trends Section, [1999]. The potential for biological effects of sediment-sorbed contaminants tested in the National Status and Trends Program. Seattle, Wash. : U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, [1990] (1991 printing). |
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Last Modified: 2024-03-02T15:12:56Z
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov