thumbnail

Copper, cadmium, and zinc concentrations in aquatic food chains from the Upper Sacramento River (California) and selected tributaries

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
By: , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00208378

Links

Abstract

Metals enter the Upper Sacramento River above Redding, California, primarily through Spring Creek, a tributary that receives acid-mine drainage from a US EPA Superfund site known locally as Iron Mountain Mine. Waterweed (Elodea canadensis) and aquatic insects (midge larvae, Chironomidae; and mayfly nymphs, Ephemeroptera) from the Sacramento River downstream from Spring Creek contained much higher concentrations of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) than did similar taxa from nearby reference tributaries not exposed to acid-mine drainage. Aquatic insects from the Sacramento River contained especially high maximum concentrations of Cu (200 mg/kg dry weight in midge larvae), Cd (23 mg/kg dry weight in mayfly nymphs), and Zn (1,700 mg/kg dry weight in mayfly nymphs). Although not always statistically significant, whole-body concentrations of Cu, Cd, and Zn in fishes (threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus; Sacramento sucker, Catostomus occidentalis; Sacramento squawfish, Ptychocheilus grandis; and chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytasch) from the Sacramento River were generally higher than in fishes from the reference tributaries.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Copper, cadmium, and zinc concentrations in aquatic food chains from the Upper Sacramento River (California) and selected tributaries
Series title Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
DOI 10.1007/BF00208378
Volume 29
Issue 4
Year Published 1995
Language English
Publisher Springer
Contributing office(s) California Water Science Center, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Western Fisheries Research Center
Description 8 p.
First page 484
Last page 491
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details