An evaluation of water and sediment quality in a mine-impacted watershed: case study of Elm Creek, Picher, Oklahoma

Dixon, Colin

Publication

An evaluation of water and sediment quality in a mine-impacted watershed: case study of Elm Creek, Picher, Oklahoma

Dixon, Colin

Date

2024-05-06

Abstract

Across the U.S. there are 1335 superfund sites that range from abandoned mines to old military bases that pose serious risk to the public if not remediated properly. The Tar Creek Superfund site, located in Picher, OK, is one example which could contaminate downstream water supplies via contaminated water and sediment due to the heavy metals, such as Cd and Pb, left behind from the mining activities. This study seeks to determine if the ongoing remediation is effective at Tar Creek which is located within the Tar Creek Superfund site, and whether contaminated sediment is migrating downstream through the watershed. Contamination within local sediment did not appear to traverse downstream in large concentrations from the primary remediation site of Bird Dog South. Contamination levels, however, slowly increased in the latter part of this research indicating finer-grained sediments are making their way through the sediment delivery system. Contamination within the water column was elevated compared to the sediment samples suggesting greater flushing of contaminants downstream. Elm Creek is characterized as hydrologically sluggish and likely dominated by subsurface storm processes. The low rate of instantaneous sediment flux from Distal West suggests that sediment storage is the dominant process within this fluvial system.