Using the Sediment Quality Triad to Characterize Toxic Conditions in the Chesapeake bay (1999)

Published:

January 1, 2015

Originator:

Chesapeake Bay Program

EPA Number:

EPA 903-R-01-008

This study, a collaborative effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Field Office, the University of Maryland Wye Research and Education Center and the Academy of Natural Sciences Patrick Center, involved evaluating complementary measures of sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity and benthic community structure (i.e., the Sediment Quality Triad) at stations in the tidal segments of the Magothy, Bohemia, Potomac and Patuxent Rivers in Maryland and the York and James rivers in Virginia. With the exception of the Potomac River segment, these were areas for which little data currently existed. Our intent was to maximize the spatial coverage of toxics monitoring by assessing sediment toxicity and sediment chemistry at stations that were sampled as part of the Long Term Benthic Monitoring programs in Virginia and Maryland.