Heatmap visualizations of arsenic, cadmium, and copper concentrations in streambed sediment in the Clark Fork River, Montana, 1996-2020
Dates
Publication Date
2021-10-15
Start Date
1996
End Date
2020
Citation
Hepler, E.J., and Hornberger, M.I., 2021, Heatmap visualizations of arsenic, cadmium, and copper concentrations in streambed sediment in the Clark Fork River, Montana, 1996-2020: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P91ZYTA7.
Summary
Long-term monitoring of stream-bed sediments reveals spatial and temporal trends in metal concentrations. Here we use concentration gradient “heat maps” as a visualization tool to report annual mean arsenic, cadmium and copper concentrations along a contamination gradient in the Clark Fork River (CFR) in Western Montana. The CFR has been heavily impacted by large-scale mining operations since the 19th century. Legacy mine waste and tailings have been deposited within the streambed, banks, and floodplains more than 200 kilometers downstream. Sieved sediment samples (<63µm) have been collected at 10 stations along a 200 kilometer contamination gradient annually since 1996. Ongoing remediation activities in the upper basin (60 Km) have [...]
Summary
Long-term monitoring of stream-bed sediments reveals spatial and temporal trends in metal concentrations. Here we use concentration gradient “heat maps” as a visualization tool to report annual mean arsenic, cadmium and copper concentrations along a contamination gradient in the Clark Fork River (CFR) in Western Montana. The CFR has been heavily impacted by large-scale mining operations since the 19th century. Legacy mine waste and tailings have been deposited within the streambed, banks, and floodplains more than 200 kilometers downstream. Sieved sediment samples (<63µm) have been collected at 10 stations along a 200 kilometer contamination gradient annually since 1996. Ongoing remediation activities in the upper basin (60 Km) have reduced the tailings deposits along the flood plain and may account for the reduction of some metals in the upper stations. Arsenic concentrations ranged from 12-204 µg/g from 2003-2020. The highest concentrations were observed in 2003 at river Km 11 while the lowest concentrations in all years occurred in the most downstream reaches. Concentrations of cadmium (1996-2020) ranged from 1-11 µg/g with the highest in the most upstream reaches between 2000-2003. Temporal trends in copper (1996-2020) ranged from 125-2053 µg/g with the highest concentrations observed in the most upstream stations during the earlier years.
Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.
Above Missoula 2017.png “Example Sampling Site Photo of Above Missoula in 2017”
5.31 MB
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CFR_Arsenic_Maps.zip “CFR Arsenic Gradient Maps”
63.16 MB
application/zip
CFR_Cadmium_Maps.zip “CFR Cadmium Gradient Maps”
87.68 MB
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CFR_Copper_Maps.zip “CFR Copper Gradient Maps”
87.11 MB
application/zip
CFR_Heatmaps_Metadata.xml “Clark Fork Heatmaps MetaData” Original FGDC Metadata
View
53.88 KB
application/fgdc+xml
ClarkFork_Sediment_Arsenic.csv “CFR Arsenic in Sediment Data, 2003 - 2020”
1.54 KB
text/csv
ClarkFork_Sediment_Cadmium.csv “CFR Cadmium in Sediment Data, 1996 - 2020”
1.73 KB
text/csv
ClarkFork_Sediment_Copper.csv “CFR Copper in Sediment Data, 1996 - 2020”
2.28 KB
text/csv
Cu1996.png “Preview of Map Layout”
3.49 MB
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Deer Lodge 2018.png “Example Sampling Site Photo of Deer Lodge in 2018”
5.32 MB
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Dempsey Creek 2016.png “Example Sampling Site Photo of Dempsey Creek in 2016”
6.44 MB
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Galen Gage 2018.png “Example Sampling Site Photo of Galen Gage 2018”
5.32 MB
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Purpose
The data collected are part of an ongoing monitoring project in the Clark Fork River in western Montana. The project includes collecting bed sediment, water, and aquatic insects for metals analysis and data are published annually. This dataset provides a visualization of the spatiotemporal trends of three elements of concern found in bed sediments: arsenic, cadmium, and copper.