Chemical analyses of elutriates, native water, and bottom material from the Chetco, Rogue, and Columbia rivers in western Oregon

Gregory J. Fuhrer

doi:10.3133/ofr84133

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Chemical analyses of elutriates, native water, and bottom material from the Chetco, Rogue, and Columbia rivers in western Oregon

Gregory J. Fuhrer

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Abstract

Chemical analyses of elutriates, bottom sediment, and water samples for selected metals, nutrients and organic compounds including insecticides, herbicides, and acid/neutral extractables have been made to provide data to determine short-term water-quality conditions associated with dredging operations in rivers and estuaries. Between April and August 1982, data were collected from the Chetco and Rogue River estuaries in southwestern Oregon, and from the mouth of the Columbia River in the northwestern Oregon to Cathlamet Bay, 18.2 miles upstream. In an elutriation test, bottom materials from a potential dredge site are mixed with native water - collected from either a dredge or disposal site - and the liquid portion of the mixture is removed, filtered, and chemically analyzed. Presented in this report are chemical and physical analyses of elutriates, native water, and bottom material for selected metals, ammonia, organic carbon, pesticides, particle size, and gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric semi-quantitative organic scans. Elutriate and bottom-material samples were screened specifically for phenolic compounds, particularly the chlorinated phenols; phenol was the only compound identified. Elutriate-test results showed variability for selected trace-metal concentrations of dissolved chemicals as follows: in micrograms per liter, arsenic ranged from < 1 to 15, cadmium from 1 to 210, copper from < 1 to 13, chromium from < 1 to 5, and nickel from 2 to 18. Results of computations to determine the amount of a constituent associated with bottom material and interstitial water and subsequently released (dissolved) into the elutriate-test native-mixing water are presented for selected trace metals. The highest elutriate-test release was 35 percent for manganese; the second highest, 5 percent for cadmium. All other computed releases were less than or equal to 1 percent. (USGS)

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Gregory J. Fuhrer. 1984. Chemical analyses of elutriates, native water, and bottom material from the Chetco, Rogue, and Columbia rivers in western Oregon. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr84133

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