PARENT SESSION
PT1 - Aquatic Toxicology
Tuesday, 19 November 2002
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall
(P521) The effects of metals from abandoned mine lands on the aquatic health in the Prichard and Beaver watersheds, Idaho.
Rhea, Darren*,1, Harper, David1, Farag, Aida1, 1 U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Jackson Field Station, Jackson, WY
ABSTRACT- We used multiple methods to identify the impact of abandoned hard rock and placer mining on the aquatic health in the Prichard Creek and Beaver Creek watersheds in northern Idaho. Tissue metal accumulation, lipid peroxidation, metallothionein, and histology were used to assess individual fish health, while mortality, population estimates, and habitat inventories were used to identify the effects of metals on populations of fish. Additionally, metal concentrations in biofilm and macro-invertebrates were measured to establish pathways of metal accumulation in fish. Preliminary results indicate that 4 of 7 sites contain fish with elevated concetrations of metals in the gills, liver, pyloric cecae, and muscle, resulting in elevated products of lipid peroxidation and concentrations of metallothionein. Histopathology results include kidney lesions consistent with contamintation at 2 sites, depleted energy stores in fish livers from 2 sites, and thickening of gill-lining cells from one site. Two of these test sites may contain depressed populations of fish as a result of metal contamination. In-sity toxicity tests of tributaries in close proximity to mine sources devoid of resident fish resulted in complete mortality at 96 hours.
Key words: metals, physiology, survival, populations