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PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN SEDIMENTS OF SAGINAW BAY, LAKE HURON
Citation:
Meyers, P., N. Takeuchi, AND J. Robbins. PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN SEDIMENTS OF SAGINAW BAY, LAKE HURON. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-80/443.
Description:
The history of petroleum contamination of Saginaw Bay is given by a 60 cm core recording sediment accumulation over the last two centuries. Aliphatic hydrocarbon concentrations average 385 micrograms/gm in modern sediments and progressively decrease from 10 cm to 40 cm in the core to average 30 micrograms/gm in sediments deposited before 1876. While a portion of these may originate from natural sources, such as forest fires and erosion of ancient sediments, we conservatively estimate that 2 to 40,000 Tonne of petroleum hydrocarbons have been introduced to Saginaw Bay since the 1870s.