The northern Gulf of Mexico and the coastal estuaries of south Louisiana have a history of contaminated sediments and their associated human and environmental impacts. The current research assess the concentrations of metals and petrogenic/pyrogenic hydrocarbon chemical species within freshwater, brackish and marine sediments along five major estuaries of the Mississippi River watershed and three offshore shoals. Ten PAH compounds and twelve metals were selected to investigate the impacts of contaminated sediments in the Mississippi River Delta. A total of 1,032 sediment samples were collected over multiple sampling events from the years 2012 to 2014. The samples were analyzed using GC/MS and ICP/OES methods to determine the concentrations of pollutants within the sediments. Environmental variables, as well as toxic and mutagenic equivalences were measured in order to provide a complete assessment of the ecotoxicological contribution of the pollutants. Relationships between the measured pollutants and associated environmental conditions, including salinity, organic matter, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and more, were determined. This comprehensive research provides spatial and temporal data crucial for risk assessment and decision making concerning sediments in the Mississippi River delta ecosystem.

Ecotoxicological assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metals in the Mississippi River coastal watershed and offshore shoaling regions of the northern Gulf of Mexico

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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