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Delivery of Trace Metals (Al, Fe, Mn, V, Co, Ni, Cu, Cd, Ag, Pb) from the Trinity River Watershed Towards the Ocean

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Abstract

The Trinity River (Texas, USA) contains in its watershed 23 different reservoir lakes, the largest one being Lake Livingston situated in the lower Trinity River watershed and two potentially polluting metroplexes, Dallas and Houston. In order to determine fluxes of nutrients and trace metals to Galveston Bay, a survey that included 24 discreet samples collected over a year and at various stages of discharge was carried out during 2000–2001. Geochemical (i.e., sorption by Fe oxyhydroxides), biological (i.e., seasonal uptake by sinking algae in Lake Livingston), and hydrological (i.e., dilution effects by increasing flow rates) controls were found to be mainly responsible for variations in dissolved trace metal concentrations rather than pollution sources. The Trinity River loads of suspended sediments and pollutant trace metals entering Galveston Bay at Anahuac were <20% of those reaching Lake Livingston, and only a few percent of the total upstream trace metal load is entering the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, during the transit through the 23 man-made lakes and an estuary, >96% of the pollutant trace metal load is lost to sediments.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded, in part, by the Harbor Processes Program of the Office of Naval Research (N00014-99-1-0037) and the Texas Institute of Oceanography.

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Author notes

  1. Kent W. Warnken

    Present address: Thermo Fisher Scientific, 4410 Lottsford Vista Rd., Lanham, MD, 20706, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Marine Sciences and Oceanography, Laboratory for Oceanographic and Environmental Research (LOER), Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, TX, 77551, USA

    Kent W. Warnken & Peter H. Santschi

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  1. Kent W. Warnken
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  2. Peter H. Santschi
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Correspondence to Peter H. Santschi.

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Warnken, K.W., Santschi, P.H. Delivery of Trace Metals (Al, Fe, Mn, V, Co, Ni, Cu, Cd, Ag, Pb) from the Trinity River Watershed Towards the Ocean. Estuaries and Coasts 32, 158–172 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9088-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9088-x

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