Processes influencing the transport and fate of contaminated sediments in the coastal ocean– Boston Harbor and Massachus

Prepared in cooperation with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, U.S. Coast Guard, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

CA P E C OD

Other contributing authors:

P. Soupy Alexander, Sandra M. Baldwin, Dann S. Blackwood, Jonathan Borden, Michael A. Casso, John Crusius, Joanne Goudreau, Linda H. Kalnejais, Paul J. Lamothe, William R. Martin, Marinna A. Martini, Richard R. Rendigs, Frederick L. Sayles, Richard P. Signell, Page C. Valentine, and John C. Warner

U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA Integrated Statistics, Woods Hole, MA Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA U.S. Geological Survey, Lakewood, CO

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2007

For product and ordering information: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS

For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS

Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report.

Suggested citation: Bothner, M.H., and Butman, Bradford (eds.), 2007, Processes influencing the transport and fate of contaminated sediments in the coastal ocean—Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1302, 89 p.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bothner, Michael H.

Processes influencing the transport and fate of contaminated sediments in the coastal ocean : Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay / Michael H. Bothner and Bradford Butman ; other contributing authors, P. Soupy Alexander ... [et al.].

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Contaminated sediments--Massachusetts--Boston Harbor. 2. Contaminated sediments--Massachusetts-

Massachusetts Bay. 3. Sediment transport--Massachusetts--Boston Harbor. 4. Sediment transport-Massachusetts--Massachusetts Bay. 5. Marine pollution--Massachusetts--Boston Harbor. 6. Marine pollution-Massachusetts--Massachusetts Bay. 7. Marine sediments--Massachusetts--Boston Harbor. 8. Marine sediments-Massachusetts--Massachusetts Bay. 9. Ocean circulation--Boston Harbor. 10. Ocean circulation--Massachusetts Bay.

11. Submarine topography--Boston Harbor. 12. Submarine topography--Massachusetts Bay. 13. Ocean bottom-

Remote sensing. I. Butman, Bradford. II. Title.

iii iv

This research program has been carried out with support from the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the United States Coast Guard (USCG). We thank colleagues Michael Connor, Kenneth Keay, Wendy Leo, Michael Mickelson, and Andrea Rex at MWRA for their scientific and administrative support. For their outstanding assistance deploying and recovering the long-term oceanographic moorings and obtaining samples at sea on 51 cruises over the last 16 years, we thank the crews of the USCG buoy tenders White Heath and Marcus Hanna and their captains Michael Frias, Buddy Blackburn, Vernon Shay, Peter Boardman, Richard Foy, Thomas Dickey, and Paul Dupuis. We thank Frank Mirarchi, captain of the fishing vessel Christopher Andrew, for numerous addi tional trips to service the long-term moorings. Significant contributions to the field, laboratory, and interpretive work of this program were provided by Robert Barton, Marilyn Buchholtz ten Brink, Judith Commeau, Jessica Cote, William Danforth, Raymond Davis, Peter Gill, Polly Hast ings, Laura Hayes, Roger Hubbell, Harley Knebel, Frances Lightsom, Frank Manheim, Tammie Middleton, Joseph Newell, Donna Newman, Carol Parmenter, Andree Ramsey, Steve Ruane, Laurie Serrett, and William Strahle. The multibeam sea-floor mapping described in Section 3 was conducted in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and with support from the Canadian Hydrographic Service. We thank John Hughes-Clark (University of New Brunswick), Larry A. Mayer (University of New Brunswick, now at University of New Hampshire), Normand Doucet and Richard Sanfacon (Canadian Hydrographic Service), and the captains and crew of the Frederick G. Creed for their assistance in the multibeam surveys. v

Section 1: Introduction, Geologic Setting, and Program Overview

By Michael H. Bothner and Bradford Butman ........................................................................................................... 2

Section 2: High-Resolution Geologic Maps of the Sea Floor

By Bradford Butman and Page C. Valentine .............................................................................................................12

Section 3: Long-Term Oceanographic Observations in Massachusetts Bay: Field Program

By Bradford Butman, Michael H. Bothner, Marinna A. Martini, Jonathan Borden, Richard R. Rendigs, and Dann S. Blackwood................................................................................................................................................22

Section 4: Oceanographic Setting

By Bradford Butman, Richard P. Signell, John C. Warner, and P. Soupy Alexander ..........................................26

Section 5: Effluent Dilution Simulations in Massachusetts Bay: An Evaluation of Relocating Greater Boston’s Sewage Outfall

By Richard P. Signell......................................................................................................................................................34

Section 6: Predicting the Transport and Fate of Sediments Caused by Northeast Storms

By Bradford Butman, John C. Warner, Michael H. Bothner, and P. Soupy Alexander.......................................38

Section 7: Using Sediments to Monitor Environmental Change in Massachusetts Bay and Boston Harbor

By Michael H. Bothner, Michael A. Casso, Richard R. Rendigs, Paul J. Lamothe, and Sandra M. Baldwin .48

Section 8: Sediment Oxygen Profiles and Fluxes as a Constraint on the Delivery of Organic Matter to Sediments

By Frederick L. Sayles and Joanne Goudreau..........................................................................................................56

Section 9: The Effects of Bioturbation on Sedimentary Contaminants Inferred from Modeling Radionuclide Profiles in Sediment Cores from Massachusetts Bay

By John Crusius and Michael H. Bothner .................................................................................................................62

Section 10: The Cycling of Silver, Copper, and Lead in the Coastal Sediments of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay

By William R. Martin and Linda H. Kalnejais .............................................................................................................66

Section 11: Summary of Important Findings

By Michael H. Bothner and contributing authors ....................................................................................................74

Section 12: References Cited ......................................................................................................................78

vi

Conversion Factors and Abbreviations

Multiply

centimeter (cm) centimeter per second (cm/s) centimeter per year (cm/yr) millimeter (mm) meter (m) kilometer (km)

square centimeter (cm) square kilometer (km)

milliliter liter

Flow rate

meter per second (m/s) (ms-1) million liters/day

gram kilogram per day

Newton per square meter (N/m)

knot knot 51.4

On all maps in this report, latitude is given in degrees north, and longitude is given in degrees west. By Length

To obtain

inch (in.) inch per second (in/s) inch per year (in/yr) inch (in.) foot (ft) mile (mi)

square inch (in) square mile (mi)

quart gallon

foot per second (ft/s) million gallons per day (Mgal/d)

pound (lb) pound per day (lb/d)

pascal (Pa)

statute mile per hour centimeter per second (cm/s)

ERM

ka

mab

MWRA

phi

psu

Clostridium perfringens, C. perfringens, or spores per gram (spores/g)

disintegrations per minute per gram (dpm/g)

kilogram per cubic meter (kg/m)

kilogram per year (kg/yr)

micrograms per gram (μg/g)

micromoles per square centimeter per year (μmol/cm/yr)

micromoles per kilogram (μmol/kg)

micromoles per liter (μmol/L)

milligrams per liter (mg/L)

milliliter (mL)

nanomoles per kilogram (nmol/kg)

parts per million (ppm) vii

Estuarine and Coastal Ocean Model

effects range median (index of toxicity)

thousands of years ago

meters above bottom

ϕ = -log2 (sediment grain diameter in mm)

practical salinity unit

coefficient of determination

Regional Ocean Modeling System

significant wave height

O1 ammonium

silver

carbon

copper

lead

zinc

cesium 137

nitrate

nitrite

manganese oxides

iron oxides

oxygen

lead 210

plutonium 239+240

thorium 234

radon 222

sulfur

sulfate

iron

hydrogen sulfide

ferrous iron

iron sulfide

PERIOD (hours)

Where this page came from

This page was imported from U.S. Geological Survey. Published by the U.S. Geological Survey and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.