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
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
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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
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Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/24898
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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.
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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
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
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.
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Contents
Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District
The Committee’s Approach to Its Task
2 SOURCES OF LEAD CONTAMINATION
Natural and Mining-Associated Materials
Other Sources of Environmental Lead
3 ENVIRONMENTAL DISPERSAL OF LEAD
Aqueous Processes and Transport
4 INVESTIGATIVE STRATEGIES FOR LEAD-SOURCE ATTRIBUTION
Groundwater and Surface Waters
5 IMPLICATIONS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND RESEARCH NEEDS
BOXES, FIGURES, AND TABLES
BOXES
1-1 Steps in the Superfund Assessment Process
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-2 Compilation of 206Pb/207Pb ratios in North American ore deposits, gasoline, and paint samples
1-1 Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District
2-3 Annual consumption of lead in the United States in paint and automobile gasoline
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
3-8 Example of windblown-dust suspension on a surface
4-1 Example of an investigative strategy for attributing sources of lead in soil
4-6 Changes in lead and barium concentration along the Big River
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
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