U.S. Geological Survey
Toxic Substances Hydrology Program--Proceedings of the Technical Meeting
Charleston South Carolina March 8-12, 1999--Volume 2 of 3--Contamination of Hydrologic Systems and Related Ecosystems, Water-Resources Investigation Report 99-4018B
Butyltin Contamination in Sediments and Lipid Tissues of the Asian Clam, Potamocorbula
amurensis, near Mare Island Naval Shipyard, San Francisco Bay
By Wilfred E. Pereira, Frances D. Hostettler, and Terry L. Wade
This paper is available in pdf format (no figures):
Pereira.pdf
ABSTRACT
The former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, near Carquinez Straits in the northern
reach of San Francisco Bay, California, has been a point source for introduction
of butyltin compounds into the onshore and marine environment. Because tributyltin
(TBT) is known to be a potent endocrine disrupting chemical, a study of butyltins
in soil, benthic sediments, and lipid tussue of a common local bivalve, the
Asian clam Potamocorbula amurensis, has been undertaken to evaluate the
extent of the contamination. Soils from a sandblasting site at the shipyard
contained low concentrations of mono-, di-, and tributyltin (0.3- 52 ng/g, total
butyltin). Benthic sediments from nearby Mare Island and Carquinez Strait contained
concentrations of total butyltin ranging from 1.3-8.1 ng/g. In contrast, clams
accumulated much higher concentrations of di- and tributyltin (152-307 ng/g,
total butyltin, with TBT and dibutyltin (DBT) making up from 54-85% and 15-46%,
respectively, of the total butyl body burden of the clams). Biota Sediment Accumulation
Factors (BSAFs) for butyltins in Potamocorbula were in reasonable agreement
with literature values; they are greater than those of neutral hydrophobic compounds,
suggesting that partitioning and binding processes may be involved in bioaccumulation.
Therefore, there is potential for long-term chronic effects of TBT in San Francisco
Bay.
|
|