Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Sediment Metal Concentrations As A Function Of Land Use In The Charles River, Eastern Massachusetts, Darryl L. Luce

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Two sediment cores and eleven grab samples collected from the Charles River were analyzed to determine changes to the concentration of metals in sediments due to anthropogenic changes in the watershed. The unique aspect of this research was that sediment cores from the same geologic setting, yet having widely different sources, were compared. The findings from that comparison were used to focus the investigation through the remainder of the Charles River. The radionuclides 210Pb, 214Pb, and 137Cs established the year of deposition in the sediment cores. The concentrations of aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), chromium …