Heavy Metals in Sediments of the Detroit River: A Different Approach
Ann Arbor, MI — The spatial distribution of 17 metals in the sediments of the Detroit River was analyzed using metal concentrations from a river-wide survey by researchers from GLIER at the University of Windsor. The survey (1999) was based on a stratified random sampling design that divided the river into upper, middle, and lower reaches and subsequently into U.S. and Canadian sides of the river.
Using this design, researchers demonstrated differences in the estimation of the "environmental health of the river" compared with previous sampling programs (that had focused mostly on known point sources and describing the Detroit River as an extremely polluted area), and newly concluded that "metal contamination in sediments of the Detroit River is mostly confined to the lower reaches of the river and is being maintained by inputs of metals and storage in depositional areas."
Original Publication Information
Results of this study "Distribution of Heavy Metals in Sediments of the Detroit River," are reported by Ewa Szalinska, Ken G. Drouillard, Brian Fryer and G. Douglas Haffner in the latest issue (Volume 32, No. 3, pp. 442-454) of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, published by the International Association for Great Lakes Research, 2006.
Contacts
For more information about the study, contact Ewa Szalinska, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research GLIER, University of Windsor, Windsor ON, N9B 3P4 Canada; eszalin@uwindsor.ca; (519) 253-3000 ext. 4729.
For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; editor@iaglr.org; (608) 692-1076.
Links
Since 1967, IAGLR has served as the focal point for compiling and disseminating multidisciplinary knowledge on North America's Laurentian Great Lakes and other large lakes of the world and their watersheds. In part, IAGLR communicates this knowledge through publication of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, available to members in print and electronic form. A searchable archive of the journal is available online and includes the abstracts of articles from the journal's inception in 1975 through the most recent issue. In addition, complete articles are available to members who have signed up for an electronic subscription.
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