23 77

Technical eports

Technical Reports are research documents that are of sufficient importance tobe pre erved but which for orne reason are not appropriate for primary scientificpublication. Inquirie concerning any particular Report should be directed to theissuing establi hment.

Rapports Techniques

Le rapports technique ont des documents de recherche qui revetent une assezgrande importance pour etre conserves mais qui pour une rai on ou pour une autrene conviennent pa a une publication cientifique prioritaire. Pour toute demandede renseignements concernant un rapport particulier il faut s'adresser au servicerespon able.

and the En'viJrorlffiE:ntFisheries and Marine

Peches et Canadades peches et des bL:,LerlG!;::~b

de Ia rrer

'I'EC'J:iNlCAL REPORT NO. 696 RAPPORT TECHNIQUE NO. 696

dans cettefUl~enlt U'--'-~C-'-""C;;;::> corme RaJPPC)rt:s

V,L,L.1.\.= des re<~herclles

pe(:::heriE~s Canada. I.echange avec

rapT:xJrt numero )

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON HEAVY METAL

CONCENTRATION IN NORTHEASTERN NEW

ESTUARINE SURFICIAL SEDIMENTS

S. RAY and W. WHITE

~hnical Re}:X)rt from theFreshwater and Anadrorrous '-'J-V"'~''''-VH

Reso~ce BranchHalifax, Nova '-'\.A.!'-L,u.

Ceci est Ie premierRapport Technique de Ia

Division des eaux e-t}:X)issons anadrorres

Direction de Ia resso~ce

I-Jalifax,

I 9 7 7

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES. . . . .

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .

ABSTRACT...

INTRODUCTION...

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS ..

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .Copper . . .Zinc .. .. e /II /II ., e 0 $ til

Lead . . . . . . . . .Cadmium. .

APPENDIX A - HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATION INRECEIVING STREAMS OF NEPISIGUITRIVER BASIN .

APPENDIX B - HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATION INRECEIVING STREAMS OF MIRAMICHIRIVER BASIN. . . . . . . . . .

APPENDIX C - HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATION INRECEIVING STREAMS OF RESTIGOUCHERIVER BASIN. . . ..

REFERENCES.

v

v

1

2

35555

17

21

23

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1 northeastern~aH'~~~~, July, 1973. 5

TABLE 2. harbour5

TABLE 3. Mean of heavy

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

9

10

12

11

13

15

16

Nepisiguit

Miramichi

metals

metals

metalsof

of

s in Restigouche River .•

Study area of northeastern New Brun

Sampling sites in Miramichi River.

Sampling sites in Nepisiguit River

Sampling s

Concentration ofRiver••..•.

Concentration of heavy metals in Middle River. 14

FIG. 1.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 3.

FIG. 4.

FIG. 5

FIG. 6.

FIG. 7.

FIG. 8.

but thelevelscontrolled.

F-,-,;;;>uc;,-,-

Tech.

RESUME

metal

metal

rest

; and therewaters at the

the catchmentthree major, but closfrom mining operationsoverflowing or drained from

and leaching fromstored the

f base-mesystems.

METHODS

totself, a

sai

ofthe rest of

, no.

The callead and iron.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

It wasBathurst area the freground 1 of 150values thewerefound to be about 12 ppm,different streamsknown orediminishedz were correlatedand

sHoweve

""''-''''''''=, had

metals

TABLE 1. Heavy-metal concentration in northeasternNew sediment samples, July, 1973.

Location Conoentrations (llg/g) (air dry)Cu Zn Pb Cd

si 1 13 146 20 0 882 5 82 10 0.523 19 146 26 0.954 21 206 39 1 195 15 163 27 o 966 34 391 8 1.987 65 520 36 3.768 63 437 23 2.769 80 438 24 2.56

10 69 84 8 0.4211 12 117 11 0.67

Miramichi 1 9 84 11 0.532 6 72 9 0.513 5 65 9 0.614 10 104 15 0.94

Restigouche 1 9 49 13 0.602 6 53 11 0.563 11 48 16 1.07

TABLE 2. Heavy-metal concentration in some harbourthe Maritimes, 1973. 1

Sample no.

Concentrations(~g/gf dry weight)Cu Zn Pb

CansoNova a 1 4 27

2 4 243 22 164 10 50

,Prince Edward Island 1 13 55 8

2 14 58 63 7 47 9

Dalhousie,New Brunswick 1 3 15 5( ) 2 9 29

3 5 18 4

1Data

a range ofShimp 1972) Inwere 26 0 and 20

Zincrange of 1381974). Inbeen found at1973) .

The Nepisiguit River a much higher average zand again, the two channels show their respective spatterns. The main has an average of 447 ppm, whereasthe Middle River has 171 ppm.

sedimentof 81.0 and 50 0 ppm,

s at

havere

Cadmium

the

(19 ) set the maximum acceptable levels

, the average is 1.51 ppm, and allexceed the acceptable level. In fact,

sites have cadmium levels far inand be cons as

and , oneexcess of accept-Owing to an insuffi-

ve canimportance that the

minimum.

of the three rivers areRideau river sediments, which

to be ,at least in certain locations(Table 3).- However comparison of the metal contents inthese rs the Ottawa and Rideau rivers would be se,s the latter were ana on the -80 mesh (180 ~m)

whereas the data study are based on a -10 mesh(2.00 rom). It is known that finer sediment samples containedmore heavy metal than did coarse materials. Consequently, the

s of the Ottawa Rideau rivers would be expected tothose the three New Brunswick rivers. However, the

the exceeded those from t~eOttawa andand zinc, and samples from all three Newexceeded those from the Ottawa and Rideau in

Mean concentration of heavy metal in river

RestigoucheRiver

Mean Concentration (ppm)Ottawal Rideau! Nepisiguit Miramichi

River River

euZnPb

26138

460.45

20118

62o 46

33188

191.51

7.48111

0.65

95013

0.74

1974.

ty was investigatedhigh metal content of the

to those of the Miwater-analysis values were

1973 (Environmentz and

HarbourZ.f metal

the other.

collected from a survey conducted1974) ces AI B C)tents of the two channels ofthe metal content of the two streams:Nepisiguit River channel is hi thanthe lead content of the Middle ver esproportional and re thethe effluent ck No. 12 min

most of the e~~H'~H

enter theIt is well that

deposited in the sediments,are passed to sh andet al. (1975) have tratedby fish from sediments, without themechanism.

In view of the above results, it can beconcentrations of metals in Nepisiguit River surparallel the concentrations of metals the receand may be hazardous to the aquatic ecosystem.should be closely controlled to prevent anyin concentration levels in the sediments. If beachieved, it is hoped that most of the metalsdissipate in the ocean water.

(1)

Nepisiguit River

Middle River

Chaleur Bay

Pabinellu Falls

20kme=:=====

Copperfiekls Mining Corp.

® Restigouche Mines

® Anaconda American Brass Ltd.

Nigadoo River Mines Ltd.

® Brunswick No.12

@ Brunswick No.6

o Heath Steele Mines Ltd.

® Chester Mines Ltd.

Bumthm-Tungsten Mines

South Sevogle River

SouthwestMiramichi River

FIG. L area of northeastern New

2km

IoI

Navigation channelo Sediment sampling sites

~.f Mud and eel grass

River

River

Middle River

FIG. 2 Sampling sites Nepis River.

Little SouthwestMiramichi River

NorthwestMiramichi River

km

:;-.:::: -:.---.:.. Navigation channelo Sediment sampling sites

FIG. 3. Sampling sites Miramichi River.

I-'N

~

_ channelSediment samDlina sitesMud and eel

o....#..(('dff1f:~

\!ff)4%~!fl

=:::=-";,,:"'.;::.

----

FIG. 4. s .

800

0""",· "0 Zincx ;X COl]lpert.} - - - {lJ lead0-' -.-[]

x10](10

600

400

200

8/1:1,\

/ '\'./>1 \\./ / \ \

./ / \ \

Ai' 1 \ "_._.-. 1 \ .1 \ \

-- - - 1 \ \-&\ \\ b\ \\ \

\ \\ \

\ \&- - --\

o9 1 10

Sites (downstream~ )

FIG. 5. Concentration of heavy metals in Nepis

14

800

0· .. ·······0 Zinc)( X Co~lper

- a. lead'-8 Cadlmium

xi0x10

600

400

200

111015

Ol.........__---. --.. ......,... ..,.- ,....- ,....__-,

Sites (downstream~ )

FIG. 6. Concentration of heavy metals in Middle

160

120

c:o:;:: 80E....c:8c:o()

40

o

......... '0 Zinc

x10l!:J,- - - -ih Lead x10l3-- . . --e Cadmium

XQ

Sites (do1iVns'tream~ )

II

I

/

FIG. 7. Concentration of

16

160

0·" ·······0 ZincX :x Copper8-- - -8 Lead

• - •.........Q Cadlmium

x10x10x100

8/

//

/

//

/

//

//

/'/'

/'/'

/'/'

/'/'

/'/'

~/'/'

/'/'

/'/'

/'/'

/'/'

/'/'

I)j/'

80

120

.-.-'_.-'-e-'-'

40

o

Sites (downstream ---). )

FIG. 8. Concentration of heavy metals in Restigouche

APPENDIX A

HEAVY METAL CONCENTR~T INRECEIVING STREAMS OF NEPISIGUIT RIVER BASIN

streamno

Ltd.

AB-1 3 <AB-6 Below mine 56 4AB-4 50 mouth at

Nepisiguit River 10 80AB-7 Nepisiguit River, 2

Ie Brook 5

Brunswick No. 12(Little River)

B-7 Little River (control) 2 9 <B-6 Little

below mine 22 1,9 1,030 1B-8 Little River, above

appox. 1 mi 11 4,150 60

. 3

. 422

613

45

<

B

HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATION INRECEIVING STREAMS OF RIVER BASIN

te no.ands

H-122

H-3 South Tomogonops f belowtailings pond 4 73

Tomogonops River at mouth, 50 ftH-17 above junction of Tomogonops

and N.W. Miramichi 16 225H-21 NeW. Mirami below,

Tomogonops at Wayerton 2 26

BT-52 21

below

C-7

C-8

2

2

2

RECEIVING STREAMS OF RESTIGOUCHE

no.am

CMC-1

CMC-5

CMC-7 f at

2

3

5

13

1

467

5

R-7

REFERENCES

'l'upp,e:r, J.M i M. Carter.Pb, Zn, Cu, As, Sb, Mo, Sn

waters and streamct New

Del

Toronto

~UHU~U. 1974. 1973 NewData.

Report, EPS 5~AR-74 16

sf M.R., M.D. Miller and

effects of mining wastes in Nor~hwest

Management Branch, Fisheries and MarineSeries No

Se

Co 1973. BaseBrun ck.

Canada,

ver, B.G Agl::;mcun . 19 74 •s Ottawa and

rectorate.

f A.P. 1959.elements

Inc New York