River, Genesee

New York, Genesee River 1973 receives photoprocessing effluents Puget Sound, Washington August, 1982... 

Distribution, Transport, Adsorption, and Precipitation of Inorganic Phosphorus in the Genesee River... 

Sample Collection, Pretreatment, and Analysis. Sediment-bound phosphorus in the Genesee River was studied by sampling bottom sediment, fine-material washed from bottom sediment, suspended sediment, and water column particulate material at six stations on the river. The sampling program was planned to be synoptic with complete chemical and hydrological parameters recorded at each site. One kilogram surficial sediment samples were collected in midstream at most sites during six field trips... 

During each analysis, replicates of samples collected in the Genesee River were analyzed as quality-control check samples. The coefficients of variation for total phosphorus analysis of three sediments used as quality-control check samples were 0.12 (n =... 

The major component of the phosphorus load transported by the Genesee River during the two sampling periods discussed here... 

Table III. Statistics for Phosphorus Analyses for Several Sediment Types Collected in the Genesee River Watershed, New York, (ug/g)...

Dissolved metals other than calcium have a minor effect on the distribution of phosphorus between the water column and sediment in this fluvial system. The two principal metals of potential interest, iron and aluminum, are present in Genesee River water almost entirely in the particulate phase ( ). Dissolved concentrations of these metals are below the detection limit (less than 50 ug/1). Iron and aluminum minimum detectable dissolved concentrations were used to estimate the saturation levels of the corresponding phosphate minerals. These calculations suggest that both iron and aluminum phosphate minerals are substantially below saturation levels. The solid surfaces exhibited by iron and aluminum hydrous oxides (as particulate material in the water column) undoubtedly serve as sites for phosphorus adsorption and incorporation in the fluvial system. Data presented for the oxalate extraction procedure in Table III demonstrate the importance of phosphorus binding by hydrous metal oxides. 

Selective extractions, chemical equilibria calculations, and crystallization measurements presented here imply that the hydrous iron oxides, even in the carbonate dominated Genesee River, play a major part in inorganic phosphorus transport by sediments in the fluvial system. Saturation levels of inorganic phosphate and calcium carbonate minerals in the Genesee River... 

In the lower reaches of the Genesee River, the results of the extractions suggest that substances other than hydrous oxides are phosphorus sinks. This is evident where the amount of sediment phosphorus extracted by hydrochloric acid steadily increases down river, while the oxalate extractable phosphorus remains relatively constant. Schwertmann (2 ) emphasized that the results of such procedures are best considered as a measure of the relative amount of a phase or, more generally, a measure of an element s reactivity in a sediment under carefully controlled conditions. Laboratory experiments (Figure 8) show that phosphorus uptake by calcium carbonate, under simulated natural conditions, proceeds slowly. The large hydrochloric acid extractable component observed at Rochester may arise from slow uptake and subsequent mineralization of dissolved inorganic phosphorus by carbonate minerals. 

Phosphorus transport in the Genesee River, expressed as instantaneous unit load of total water column phosphorus, shows... 

The author wishes to express his appreciation to G. W. Fuhs for his valuble suggestions and discussions during the course of his work to K. V. Krishnamurty and E. Shpirt for assistance in the development of the Genesee River Watershed analysis program and to K. Wang, C. Baggenstoss, N. Sopchak, C. Snyder, and the staff of the Laboratories for Analytical Chemistry of this Division for technical support. 

Typical results for Genesee River watershed bottom sediment phosphorus contents are (phosphorus analysis, x (ug/g), (ug/g), h) total phosphorus, 560, 140, 99 NaOH extractable phosphorus, 58, 62, 98 HCl extractable phosphorus, 398, 99, 98 NH20H extractable phosphorus, 74, 63, 98 (NH )2C204 extractable phosphorus 184, 93, 83. Bottom sediment, suspended sediment, and particulate total phosphorus (560 ug/g, 770 ug/g, and 910 ug/g respectively) Increase as does specific surface area, across these fractions indicating that adsorption processes may be important in increasing sediment phosphorus concentrations. 

Sediment phosphorus extraction analyses show that hydrous iron oxides (extracted by (NH4)2C204) play a major role in the transport of sediment phosphorus. In northern areas of the Genesee River watershed calcium carbonate formation also appears to be Involved in phosphorus fixation. Ion activity product calculations for water column samples from the Genesee River consistently exhibit subsaturation with respect to the stable calcium phosphate phase, hydroxyapatite. Calcium carbonate, which can serve as a substrate for phosphate mineralization, shows an ion activity product below the solubility product in the Genesee River except during the summer low-rainfall season. 

Krishnamurty, K. V. and Reddy, M. M. "The Chemical Analysis of Water and Sediments in the Genesee River Watershed Study" on file in the library of International Joint Commission, Regional Office, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, 1975. 

Maximum concentrations of total silver recorded in selected nonbiological materials were 36.5 ng/m in air near a smelter in Idaho 2.0 jig/m in atmospheric dust O.lp-g/L in oil well brines 6.0 (Xg/L in groundwater near a hazardous waste site 8.9 xg/L in seawater from Galveston Bay, Texas 260.0 p,g/L in the Genesee River, New York - the recipient of photoprocessing wastes 300.0 p,g/L in steam wells 300.0 (xg/L in treated photoprocessing wastewaters 4500.0 txg/L in precipitation from clouds seeded with silver iodi ... 

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