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DEVELOPMENT OF A TOXICITY INDENTIFICATION EVALUATION (TIE) PROCEDURE FOR CHARACTERIZING METAL TOXICITY IN MARINE SEDIMENTS
Citation:
Burgess, R M., M G. Cantwell, M C. Pelletier, K T. Ho, J R. Serbst, AND A KuhnHines. DEVELOPMENT OF A TOXICITY INDENTIFICATION EVALUATION (TIE) PROCEDURE FOR CHARACTERIZING METAL TOXICITY IN MARINE SEDIMENTS. Presented at Society of Envrinmental Toxicolgy and Chemistry Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, November 14-18, 1999.
Description:
A multi-Agency effort is underway to develop whole sediment Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) methods. Whole sediment TIE methods will be critical tools for characterizing toxicity at hazardous waste sites (e.g., Superfund sites) and in the conduct of environmental risk assessments. The research approach is based on the predominance of three classes of toxicants in sediments: ammonia, nonpolar organic chemicals and metals. In this report, we describe a procedure for characterizing acute toxicity caused by metals in whole marine sediments. The procedure involves adding a chelating resin to sediments resulting in the sequestration of bioavailable metal. Within the testing chambers, the presence of resin resulted in statistically significant reductions in the overlying and interstitial water concentrations of five metals (cadmium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc) generally by factors of 40 and 200. Toxicity to both the amphipod Ampelisca abdita and mysid Americamysis bahia (formerly Mysidopsis bahia) of sediments spiked with the five metals was decreased by approximately a factor of four when resin was present. While very effective at reducing the concentrations and toxicity of metals, the resin has only minor ameliorative effects on the toxicity of ammonia and a representative nonpolar toxicant (Endosulfan). Resin and accumulated metal were easily isolated from the testing system following exposures allowing for the initiation of Phase II TIE (Identification) procedures. Thus the addition of a chelating resin provides a useful approach for determining the importance of metals to the toxicity of marine sediments.