Enduring legacy of a toxic fan via episodic redistribution of California gold mining debris

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volumn 110, Issue 46, 2013, Pages 18436-18441

  Singer, Michael Bliss ^a,b   Aalto, Rolf ^c   James, L Allan ^d   Kilham, Nina E ^e   Higson, John L ^a   Ghoshal, Subhajit ^f  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF EXETER   (United Kingdom)

^d UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA   (United States)

^e SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^f AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS INC   (United States)

Author keywords

Climate change; Flood frequency; Lowland contamination; Mercury; Morphodynamics

Indexed keywords

MERCURY;

ARTICLE; CULTIVATED LAND; EROSION; FLOODING; FOOD CONTAMINATION; FOOD WEB; GOLDMINER; HUMAN; METHYLATION; MINING; PARTICLE RESUSPENSION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RIVER; RIVER BASIN; SEDIMENT; SEDIMENT TRANSPORT; UNITED STATES; WATER CONTAMINATION;

CLIMATE CHANGE; FLOOD FREQUENCY; LOWLAND CONTAMINATION; MERCURY; MORPHODYNAMICS;

CALIFORNIA; ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION; FOOD CHAIN; GEOGRAPHY; GEOLOGIC SEDIMENTS; GOLD; HUMANS; LEAD; MINING; MODELS, CHEMICAL; WASTE PRODUCTS; WATER MOVEMENTS;

EID: 84887418616     PISSN: 00278424     EISSN: 10916490     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1302295110     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Mergler D, et al. (2007) Methylmercury exposure and health effects in humans: Aworldwide concern. AMBIO 36(1):3-11. (Pubitemid 46587110)
2. Cristol DA, et al. (2008) The movement of aquatic mercury through terrestrial foodwebs. Science 320(5874):335. (Pubitemid 351555650)
3. Gibbs RJ (1977) Transport phases of transition metals in the Amazon and YukonRivers. Geol Soc Am Bull 88(6):829-843.
4. Miller JR (1997) The role of fluvial geomorphic processes in the dispersal of heavymetals from mine sites. J Geochem Explor 58(2-3):101-118.
5. Lecce S, Pavlowsky R, Schlomer G (2008) Mercury contamination of active channelsediment and floodplain deposits from historic gold mining at Gold Hill, North Carolina,USA. Environmental Geology 55(1):113-121. (Pubitemid 351809817)
6. Miller J, et al. (1999) Effects of the 1997 flood on the transport and storage of sedimentand mercury within the Carson River valley, west-central Nevada. J Geol 107(3):313-327. (Pubitemid 30020733)
7. Knighton AD (1989) River adjustment to changes in sediment load: The effects oftin mining on the Ringarooma River, Tasmania, 1875-1984. Earth Surface Processesand Landforms 14(4):333- 359.
8. Swanson KM, et al. (2008) Sediment load and floodplain deposition rates: Comparisonof the Fly and Strickland rivers, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface 113(1):F01S03, 10.1029/2006JF000623.
9. Maurice-Bourgoin L, Aalto R, Guyot JL (2002) Sediment-associated mercury distribution within a major Amazonian tributary: Century-scale contamination history andimportance of flood plain accumulation. The Structure, Function and Management Implications of Fluvial Sedimentary Systems, eds Dyer FJ, Thoms MC, Olley JM (IAHSPress, Wallingford, UK), pp 161-168.
10. Gilbert GK (1917) Hydraulic-Mining Debris in the Sierra Nevada, US Geological Survey Professional Paper (USGC, Menlo Park, CA), Vol 105.
11. Alpers CN, Hunerlach MP, May JT, Hothem RL (2005) Mercury Contamination fromHistoric Gold Mining in California (US Geological Survey, Sacramento, CA), US GeologicalSurvey Fact Sheet FS2005-3014.
12. Nater EA, Grigal DF (1992) Regional trends in mercury distribution across the Great-Lakes states, North Central USA. Nature 358(6382):139-141.
13. Eagles-Smith CA, Ackerman JT, De La Cruz SEW, Takekawa JY (2009) Mercury bioaccumulationand risk to three waterbird foraging guilds is influenced by foragingecology and breeding stage. Environ Pollut 157(7):1993-2002.
14. Greenfield BK, Jahn A (2010) Mercury in San Francisco Bay forage fish. Environ Pollut158(8):2716-2724.
15. Bouse RM, et al. (2010) Mercury-contaminated hydraulic mining debris in SanFrancisco Bay. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science Journal 8(1):28.
16. Gehrke GE, Blum JD, Marvin-DiPasquale M (2011) Sources of mercury to San FranciscoBay surface sediment as revealed by mercury stable isotopes. Geochim CosmochimActa 75(3):691-705.
17. Hornberger MI, Luoma SN, van Geen A, Fuller C, Anima R (1999) Historical trends ofmetals in the sediments of San Francisco Bay, California. Mar Chem 64(1-2):39-55. (Pubitemid 29068788)
18. James LA (1989) Sustained storage and transport of hydraulic gold mining sedimentin the Bear River, California. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 79(4):570-592.
19. Hunerlach MP, Alpers CN, Marvin-DiPasquale M, Taylor HE, DeWild JF (2004) Geochemistryof Mercury and Other Trace Elements in Fluvial Tailings Upstream of DaguerrePoint Dam, Yuba River, California, August 2001 (US Geological Survey, Reston,VA) US Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5165.
20. Adler LL (1980) Adjustment of the Yuba River, California, to the influx of hydraulicmining debris, 1849-1979. PhD dissertation (University of California, Los Angeles).
21. James LA, Singer MB, Ghoshal S, Megison M (2009) Historical channel changes in the lower Yuba and Feather Rivers, California: Long-term effects of contrasting river-management strategies. Management and Restoration of Fluvial Systems with Broad Historical Changes and Human Impacts (Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO), Geological Society of America Special Publication 451, eds James LA, Rathburn SL, Whittecar GR, pp 57-81.
22. Nicholas AP, Quine TA (2007) Modeling alluvial landform change in the absence ofexternal environmental forcing. Geology 35(6):527-530. (Pubitemid 46971603)
23. James LA (2004) Decreasing sediment yields in northern California: Vestiges of hydraulicgold-mining and reservoir trapping. International Symposium on Sediment Transfer through the Fluvial System (IAHS, Wallingford, UK), pp 235-244.
24. Kilham NE, Roberts D, Singer MB (2012) Remote sensing of suspended sedimentconcentration during turbid flood conditions on the Feather River, California: Amodeling approach. Water Resour Res 48(1):W01521, 10.1029/2011WR010391.
25. Singer MB, Aalto R, James LA (2008) Status of the lower Sacramento Valley flood-controlsystem within the context of its natural geomorphic setting. Natural HazardsReview 9(3):104-115. (Pubitemid 352028470)
26. Walling DE, Owens PN, Leeks GJL (1998) The role of channel and floodplain storage inthe suspended sediment budget of the River Ouse, Yorkshire, UK. Geomorphology22(3-4):225-242. (Pubitemid 28409703)
27. Rumsby BT, Macklin MG (1994) Channel and floodplain response to recent abruptclimate change: The Tyne basin, Northern England. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 19(6):499 -515.
28. Dettinger M (2011) Climate change, atmospheric rivers, and floods in California - Amultimodel analysis of storm frequency and magnitude changes. J Am Water Resour Assoc 47(3):514-523.
29. Das T, Dettinger M, Cayan D, Hidalgo H (2011) Potential increase in floods in California's Sierra Nevada under future climate projections. Clim Change 109(Suppl 1):71-94.
30. Snyder NP, et al. (2004) Estimating accumulation rates and physical properties ofsediments behind a dam: Englebright Lake, Yuba River, northern California. Water Resour Res 40(11):W11301, 10.1029/2004WR003279.
31. James, LA (1993) Sustained reworking of hydraulic mining sediment in California: G.K. Gilbert's sediment wave model reconsidered. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplementbände 88:49-66.
32. Donovan PM, Blum JD, Yee D, Gehrke GE, Singer MB (2013) An isotopic record ofmercury in San Francisco Bay sediment. Chemical Geology 349-350:87-98.
33. Compeau GC, Bartha R (1985) Sulfate-reducing bacteria: Principal methylators ofmercury in anoxic estuarine sediment. Appl Environ Microbiol 50(2):498-502. (Pubitemid 15018782)
34. Gilmour CC, Henry EA, Mitchell R (1992) Sulfate stimulation of mercury methylation infresh-water sediments. Environ Sci Technol 26(11):2281-2287. (Pubitemid 23376854)
35. James LA, Hodgson ME, Ghoshal S, Latiolais MM (2012) Geomorphic change detectionusing historic maps and DEM differencing: The temporal dimension of geospatialanalysis. Geomorphology 137(1):181-198.
36. Simon A, Curini A, Darby SE, Langendoen EJ (2000) Bank and near-bank processes inan incised channel. Geomorphology 35(3-4):193-217.
37. Singer MB, Dunne T (2004) Modeling decadal bed-material flux based on stochastichydrology. Water Resour Res 40(3):W03302, 10.1029/2003WR002723.
38. Hervouet JM (2000) TELEMAC modeling system: An overview. Hydrol Processes 14(13):2209-2210.