History of Toxic Metal Discharge to Surface Waters of the Aberjona Watershed

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 121 - 128
• Main Authors: Spliethoff, Henry M, Hemond, Harold F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01-01-1996
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Chemistry; Contamination; Exact sciences and technology; Freshwater; Groundwater; Metals; Pollution; Pollution sources. Measurement results; Sediments; Soil and sediments pollution; United States; North America; Massachusetts; America; United States > US; Content; Watershed; Pollution source; Chronology; Soil pollution; Sediments; Accumulation; Concentration distribution; Heavy metal
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es950169q

A history of waterborne export of toxic metals from the industrial/residential Aberjona Watershed, north of Boston, MA, has been reconstructed from an analysis of sediment cores from the Upper Mystic Lake, together with historical records of industrial activity on the watershed. The lake sediments exhibit complex profiles of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, and zinc. These profiles are interpretable in terms of historical industrial activities on the watershed and transport via the Aberjona River to the Upper Mystic Lake. High concentrations (in excess of 1000 mg/kg arsenic and chromium) occur in two zones, at depths between 25 and 35 cm and between 50 and 70 cm in the sediments of this lake. The deeper zone corresponds to the early 1900s, a period of intense industrial activity during which chemical and leather industries are known to have made direct discharges of metals to surface waters. Sharp decreases in metals concentrations subsequently occurred as industry declined, and concurrently, much of the watershed was sewered in the mid-1930's. The more recent period of metals transport to the lake, which occurred ca. 1960, evidently was the result of remobilization of wastes deposited on the watershed decades earlier.