The occurrence of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) in the Arctic and sub-Arctic is of major concern for the sensitive ecosystems and the humans and aquatic flora and fauna in this region. Specifically, the Aleutian volcanic arc within the ABSI LCC is of interest because it exists along the ocean and atmospheric pathways for the transport of these and other contaminants and pollutants that are derived from other locations, such as Asia. Assessing the distribution of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in the Aleutian volcanic arc (within the ABSI LCC) is necessary in order to document the natural and anthropogenic sources of such elements that are utilized as micro-nutrients by aquatic wildlife, in some cases biomagnify, and that in general have negative impacts on the overall quality of ecosystems. The goal of this research project is to produce a database of all existing water quality and water geochemistry data and rock geochemistry data for PTEs of interest in the ABSI LCC, including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, and selenium. The objective of this project is to compile all published PTE water quality data and water geochemistry data and rock geochemistry data for the Aleutian volcanic arc region in the ABSI LCC.
The Principal Investigators will conduct interviews with agencies and stakeholders to obtain all data sources and to ensure that we have feedback on the utilities of the database from potential users, build the database, and design ArcGIS layers for spatial analysis of the data. All entities interested in PTEs in the terrestrial aquatic and land systems will benefit from this “one-stop shop” database. For example, toxicity studies on fishes, birds, and marine mammals and any future work involving PTEs can use this database as a baseline for their work to help understand sources and pathways of these important contaminants. The expected project output and product is a database of all of the known data of water quality, water geochemistry and rock geochemistry for the PTEs of interest.
