National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

Investigative Strategies
for Lead-Source Attribution
at Superfund Sites Associated
with Mining Activities

Committee on Sources of Lead Contamination at or near Superfund Sites

Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology

Division on Earth and Life Studies

A Consensus Study Report of

images

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This project was supported by Contract EP-C-14-005, TO#0015 between the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-46556-4
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-46556-7
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/24898

Additional copies of this publication are available for sale from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright 2017 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/24898.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

images

The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Marcia McNutt is president.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to bring the practices of engineering to advising the nation. Members are elected by their peers for extraordinary contributions to engineering. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president.

The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) was established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to advise the nation on medical and health issues. Members are elected by their peers for distinguished contributions to medicine and health. Dr. Victor J. Dzau is president.

The three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The National Academies also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding in matters of science, engineering, and medicine.

Learn more about the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine at www.nationalacademies.org.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

images

Consensus Study Reports published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine document the evidence-based consensus on the study’s statement of task by an authoring committee of experts. Reports typically include findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on information gathered by the committee and the committee’s deliberations. Each report has been subjected to a rigorous and independent peer-review process and it represents the position of the National Academies on the statement of task.

Proceedings published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine chronicle the presentations and discussions at a workshop, symposium, or other event convened by the National Academies. The statements and opinions contained in proceedings are those of the participants and are not endorsed by other participants, the planning committee, or the National Academies.

For information about other products and activities of the National Academies, please visit www.nationalacademies.org/about/whatwedo.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

COMMITTEE ON SOURCES OF LEAD CONTAMINATION AT OR NEAR SUPERFUND SITES

Members

EDWARD J. BOUWER (Chair), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

MARK D. BARTON, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

ERIC A. BETTERTON, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

JOEL D. BLUM, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

SUSAN L. BRANTLEY, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

JUDITH C. CHOW, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV

SCOTT E. FENDORF, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

ROBERT E. HAZEN, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ

CHRIS E. JOHNSON, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

WILLIAM I. MANTON, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX

JERRY R. MILLER, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC

PEGGY A. O’DAY, University of California, Merced, CA

JOHN TOLL, Windward Environmental LLC, Seattle, WA

WARREN H. WHITE, University of California, Davis, CA

Staff

ELLEN K. MANTUS, Project Director

RAYMOND WASSEL, Scholar and Director of Environmental Studies

MIRSADA KARALIC-LONCAREVIC, Manager, Technical Information Center

RADIAH ROSE-CRAWFORD, Manager, Editorial Projects

TAMARA DAWSON, Program Coordinator

Sponsors

US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

BOARD ON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND TOXICOLOGY

Members

WILLIAM H. FARLAND (Chair), Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

RICHARD A. BECKER, American Chemistry Council, Washington, DC

E. WILLIAM COLGLAZIER, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC

DOMINIC M. DITORO, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

DAVID C. DORMAN, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

CHARLES T. DRISCOLL, JR., Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

ANNE FAIRBROTHER, Exponent Inc., Philomath, OR

GEORGE GRAY, The George Washington University, Washington, DC

STEVEN P. HAMBURG, Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY

ROBERT A. HIATT, University of California, San Francisco, CA

SAMEUL KACEW, University of Ottawa, Ontario

H. SCOTT MATTHEWS, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

ROBERT PERCIASEPE, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Arlington, VA

R. CRAIG POSTLEWAITE, Burke, VA

MARK A. RATNER, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

JOAN B. ROSE, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

GINA M. SOLOMON, California Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA

ROBERT M. SUSSMAN, Sussman and Associates, Washington, DC

DEBORAH L. SWACKHAMMER, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

PETER S. THORNE, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Senior Staff

TERESA A. FRYBERGER, Director

ELLEN K. MANTUS, Scholar and Director of Risk Assessment

RAYMOND A. WASSEL, Scholar and Director of Environmental Studies

SUSAN N. J. MARTEL, Senior Program Officer for Toxicology

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

Acknowledgments

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Teresa Bowers, Gradient

Edward Boyle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Gordon Brown, Stanford University

John Dilles, Oregon State University

Joseph Graney, Binghamton University, The State University of New York

Thomas Johnson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Lin Ma, University of Texas at El Paso

Peter Nico, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Robert Seal, US Geological Survey

Aaron Thompson, University of Georgia

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by David Dzombak, Carnegie Mellon University, and Michael Kavanaugh, Geosyntec Consultants. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

The committee gratefully acknowledges the following for their presentations to the committee during open sessions: Teresa Bowers, Gradient; Michele Burgess, US Environmental Protection Agency; Jonathan Garoutte, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services; Art Hebrank, Missouri Mines State Historic Site; Cheryl Seeger, Missouri Geological Survey; Valerie Wilder, Missouri Department of Natural Resources; Emitt Witt, US Geological Survey; and Mark Yingling, The Doe Run Resources Corporation. The committee thanks Michele Burgess and Marc Stifelman, US Environmental Protection Agency, for providing background materials to the committee during the study process and especially Greg Bach, US Environmental Protection Agency, for organizing the committee’s tour of the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District. The committee is also grateful for the assistance of Norman Grossblatt who served as the report editor.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

This page intentionally left blank.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

BOXES, FIGURES, AND TABLES

BOXES

1-1 Steps in the Superfund Assessment Process

1-2 Statement of Task

2-1 Lead Isotopes: A Tool for Source Attribution

2-2 Geology of Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District

2-3 History of Lead Production in Southeast Missouri

4-1 Lead Attribution Using Physical and Geochemical Fingerprinting Techniques

4-2 Examples of Modifications of Investigative Strategy

4-3 Historical Analysis of Lake, Bog, and Coastal Sediments

FIGURES

S-1 Natural, mining-associated, and commercial sources can cause lead contamination in the environment through natural or intentional transport

S-2 Compilation of 206Pb/207Pb ratios in North American ore deposits, gasoline, and paint samples

1-1 Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District

2-1 Natural, mining-associated, and commercial sources can cause lead contamination in the environment through natural or intentional transport

2-2 Distribution of lead mineralization in Southeast Missouri and related features, including the Big River watershed

2-3 Annual consumption of lead in the United States in paint and automobile gasoline

3-1 Dominant lead species in water as a function of pH at (A) low and (B) high dissolved-total-carbonate concentrations

3-2 General examples of lead adsorption (as percent uptake from solution) on mineral surfaces as a function of pH for three soil-mineral types: iron oxide or hydroxide, edge sites of clay minerals, and aluminum oxide or hydroxide

3-3 Lead, zinc, and antimony concentrations measured in channel-bed sediments of the Chilco–Tupiza drainage system of southern Bolivia

3-4 Schematic diagrams that illustrate potential sites of sediment-associated lead deposition in a river and the primary factors that influence lead concentrations in channel-bed sediment

3-5 Mine tailings incorporated into floodplain deposits near Leadville, Colorado

3-6 Time series of 24-hr average TSP lead concentrations at selected Missouri monitoring sites

3-7 Illustration of different size fractions of airborne particles in a typical atmospheric particle-size distribution

3-8 Example of windblown-dust suspension on a surface

3-9 Comparison of PM10 suspended at different wind speeds from mechanically disturbed surfaces (such as a broken surface crust) and undisturbed surfaces of a coke storage pile; data collected using a portable wind tunnel

4-1 Example of an investigative strategy for attributing sources of lead in soil

4-2 Isotopic signatures of soil samples from the pristine Shale Hills site in central Pennsylvania compared with various sources of lead

4-3 Representative SEM images of particles with aerodynamic diameters of (a) 0.32 μm and (b) 6.2 μm collected from a micro-orifice uniform deposit impactor at an active copper-smelting site (Hayden, AZ)

4-4 Example of an investigative strategy for attributing sources of lead in river (alluvial) sediments

4-5 Downstream variations in total lead concentrations and 208Pb/206Pb ratios along the Wear River in northern England

4-6 Changes in lead and barium concentration along the Big River

4-7 Schematic diagram illustrating how the age of a sedimentary deposit can be combined with lead-concentration data to determine the source of lead in river sediments

4-8 Example of an investigative strategy for attributing sources of lead in water at a Superfund site

4-9 Investigative strategy for identifying sources of lead in air

4-10 Chemical compositions differ among dust sources in the Canadian Oil Sands Regions

4-11 Expansion of the committee’s Tier II strategy for establishing source signatures to inform receptor modeling that can help to identify and quantify potential lead sources

4-12 Expansion of the committee’s Tier III strategy for estimating emission potential and particle-size distribution to provide inputs to modeling for source attribution

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×

This page intentionally left blank.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R1
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R2
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R3
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R4
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R5
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R6
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R10
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R11
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24898.
×
Page R12
Next: Summary »
Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $75.00 Buy Ebook | $59.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

The Superfund program of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in the 1980s to address human-health and environmental risks posed by abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous-waste sites. Identification of Superfund sites and their remediation is an expensive multistep process. As part of this process, EPA attempts to identify parties that are responsible for the contamination and thus financially responsible for remediation. Identification of potentially responsible parties is complicated because Superfund sites can have a long history of use and involve contaminants that can have many sources. Such is often the case for mining sites that involve metal contamination; metals occur naturally in the environment, they can be contaminants in the wastes generated at or released from the sites, and they can be used in consumer products, which can degrade and release the metals back to the environment.

This report examines the extent to which various sources contribute to environmental lead contamination at Superfund sites that are near lead-mining areas and focuses on sources that contribute to lead contamination at sites near the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District. It recommends potential improvements in approaches used for assessing sources of lead contamination at or near Superfund sites.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!