Geology topics

John Weber

Publications and source records attributed to John Weber.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2016

Bioaccessibility tests accurately estimate bioavailability of lead to quail

Hazards of soil-borne Pb to wild birds may be more accurately quantified if the bioavailability of that Pb is known. To better understand the bioavailability of Pb to birds, we measured blood Pb concentrations in Japanese quail ( Coturnix japonica ) fed diets containing Pb-contaminated soils. Relative bioavailabilities were expressed by comparison with blood Pb concentrations in quail fed a Pb acetate reference diet. Diets containing soil from five Pb-contaminated Superfund sites had relative bioavailabilities from 33%-63%, with a mean of about 50%. Treatment of two of the soils with phosphorus significantly reduced the bioavailability of Pb. Bioaccessibility of Pb in the test soils was then measured in six in vitro tests and regressed on bioavailability. They were: the “Relative Bioavailability Leaching Procedure” (RBALP) at pH 1.5, the same test conducted at pH 2.5, the “Ohio State University In vitro Gastrointestinal” method (OSU IVG), the “Urban Soil Bioaccessible Lead Test”, the modified “Physiologically Based Extraction Test” and the “Waterfowl Physiologically Based Extraction Test.” All regressions had positive slopes. Based on criteria of slope and coefficient of determination, the RBALP pH 2.5 and OSU IVG tests performed very well. Speciation by X-ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrated that, on average, most of the Pb in the sampled soils was sorbed to minerals (30%), bound to organic matter (24%), or present as Pb sulfate (18%). Additional Pb was associated with P (chloropyromorphite, hydroxypyromorphite and tertiary Pb phosphate), and with Pb carbonates, leadhillite (a lead sulfate carbonate hydroxide), and Pb sulfide. The formation of chloropyromorphite reduced the bioavailability of Pb and the amendment of Pb-contaminated soils with P may be a thermodynamically favored means to sequester Pb.

Idaho, Missouri, Montana↗

USGS2014

Toxicity of Pb-contaminated soil to Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) and the use of the blood-dietary Pb slope in risk assessment

This study relates tissue concentrations and toxic effects of Pb in Japanese quail ( Coturnix japonica ) to the dietary exposure of soil-borne Pb associated with mining and smelting. From 0% to 12% contaminated soil, by weight, was added to 5 experimental diets (0.12 to 382 mg Pb/kg, dry wt) and fed to the quail for 6 weeks. Benchmark doses associated with a 50% reduction in delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity were 0.62 mg Pb/kg in the blood, dry wt, and 27 mg Pb/kg in the diet. Benchmark doses associated with a 20% increase in the concentration of erythrocyte protoporphyrin were 2.7 mg Pb/kg in the blood and 152 mg Pb/kg in the diet. The quail showed no other signs of toxicity (histopathological lesions, alterations in plasma–testosterone concentration, and body and organ weights). The relation of the blood Pb concentration to the soil Pb concentration was linear, with a slope of 0.013 mg Pb/kg of blood (dry wt) divided by mg Pb/kg of diet. We suggest that this slope is potentially useful in ecological risk assessments on birds in the same way that the intake slope factor is an important parameter in risk assessments of children exposed to Pb. The slope may also be used in a tissue-residue approach as an additional line of evidence in ecological risk assessment, supplementary to an estimate of hazard based on dietary toxicity reference values.

Missouri↗

USGS2013

Toxic exposure of songbirds to lead in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District

Mining and smelting in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District has caused widespread contamination of soils with lead (Pb) and other metals. Soils from three study sites sampled in the district contained from approximately 1,000–3,200 mg Pb/kg. Analyses of earthworms [33–4,600 mg Pb/kg dry weight (dw)] collected in the district showed likely high Pb exposure of songbirds preying on soil organisms. Mean tissue Pb concentrations in songbirds collected from the contaminated sites were greater (p < 0.05) than those in songbirds from reference sites by factors of 8 in blood, 13 in liver, and 23 in kidney. Ranges of Pb concentrations in livers (mg Pb/kg dw) were as follows: northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) = 0.11–3.0 (reference) and 1.3–30 (contaminated) and American robin (Turdus migratorius) = 0.43–8.5 (reference) and 7.6–72 (contaminated). Of 34 adult and juvenile songbirds collected from contaminated sites, 11 (32 %) had hepatic Pb concentrations that were consistent with adverse physiological effects, 3 (9 %) with systemic toxic effects, and 4 (12 %) with life-threatening toxic effects. Acid-fast renal intranuclear inclusion bodies, which are indicative of Pb poisoning, were detected in kidneys of two robins that had the greatest renal Pb concentrations (952 and 1,030 mg/kg dw). Mean activity of the enzyme delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) in red blood cells, a well-established bioindicator of Pb poisoning in birds, was decreased by 58–82 % in songbirds from the mining sites. We conclude that habitats within the mining district with soil Pb concentrations of ≥1,000 mg Pb/kg are contaminated to the extent that they are exposing ground-feeding songbirds to toxic concentrations of Pb.

Missouri↗

USGS2009

Logs of paleoseismic excavations across the Central Range Fault, Trinidad

This publication makes available maps and trench logs associated with studies of the Central Range Fault, part of the South American-Caribbean plate boundary in Trinidad. Our studies were conducted in 2001 and 2002. We mapped geomorphic features indicative of active faulting along the right-lateral, Central Range Fault, part of the South American-Caribbean plate boundary in Trinidad. We excavated trenches at two sites, the Samlalsingh and Tabaquite sites. At the Samlalsingh site, sediments deposited after the most recent fault movement bury the fault, and the exact location of the fault was unknown until we exposed it in our excavations. At this site, we excavated a total of eleven trenches, six of which exposed the fault. The trenches exposed fluvial sediments deposited over a strath terrace developed on Miocene bedrock units. We cleaned the walls of the excavations, gridded the walls with either 1 m X 1 m or 1 m X 0.5 m nail and string grid, and logged the walls in detail at a scale of 1:20. Additionally, we described the different sedimentary units in the field, incorporating these descriptions into our trench logs. We mapped the locations of the trenches using a tape and compass. Our field logs were scanned, and unit contacts were traced in Adobe Illustrator. The final drafted logs of all the trenches are presented here, along with photographs showing important relations among faults and Holocene sedimentary deposits. Logs of south walls were reversed in Illustrator, so that all logs are drafted with the view direction to the north. We collected samples of various materials exposed in the trench walls, including charcoal samples for radiocarbon dating from both faulted and unfaulted deposits. The locations of all samples collected are shown on the logs. The ages of seventeen of the charcoal samples submitted for radiocarbon analysis at the University of Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory in Tucson, Ariz., are given in Table 1. Samples found in Table 1 are shown in red on the trench logs. All radiocarbon ages are calibrated and given with 2 standard deviation age ranges. Our studies suggest that the Central Range Fault is a Holocene fault capable of producing damaging earthquakes in Trinidad

Open-File Report↗