Modeling Cd partitioning in oxic lake sediments and Cd concentrations in the freshwater bivalve A nodonta grandis

Cadmium concentrations were measured at 49 littoral sites in 38 lakes distributed over 350,000 km2 in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, both in the abiotic environment (oxic sediments and overlying water, diagenetic iron oxyhydroxide deposits on Teflon collectors) and in the soft tissues of the freshwater bivalve Anodonta grandis collected along a Cd contamination gradient. Concentrations of dissolved Cd above the water-sediment interface were highly undersaturated with respect to CdCO,(s). The partitioning of Cd between water and surficial oxic sediments is interpreted in terms of sorption of this metal to sedimentary organic matter and Fe oxyhydroxides, by means of surface complexation concepts. Binding intensity values for the sorption of Cd to Fe oxyhydroxides (&-& and organic matter (J&& are estimated from field data (i.e. Cd concentrations in diagenetic Fe deposits, in the sediments, and in the water). The following empirical relationships between binding intensities and lake pH are found: log K Fe-Cd = 0.82 pH 1.30 (r2 = 0.89) and log Kc,M-Cd = 0.97 pH 2.45 (r2 = 0.78). Calculated Cd partitioning with these binding intensities indicates that Cd is bound mainly to organic matter in these sediments. Linear regression analysis indicates that Cd concentrations in the soft tissues of the bivalves, [Cd(Org)] (pg g-l dry wt), are related to dissolved Cd concentrations: [Cd(Org)] = 44[Cd2+] + 10 (r2 = 0.81) for [Cd2 + ] expressed in nmol literI. In these lakes, simple normalization of sedimentary extractable Cd with respect to sedimentary Fe oxyhydroxide or organic C concentrations proved inadequate for predicting Cd concentrations in A. grandis. Combining surface complexation concepts with the free-metal ion model of trace metal-organism interactions, we show that Cd concentrations in the soft tissues of A. grandis can be predicted with similar success as with the dissolved Cd concentration from water pH and sediment chemistry (total sedimentary Cd, Fe oxyhydroxides, and organic C concentrations). Industrialization has increased fluxes of trace added to the aquatic sediments, where they metals from terrestrial and atmospheric sources pose a potential threat to benthic organisms. toward the aquatic environment. An imporIn principle, remedial actions such as reductant proportion of these metals is progressively tion in waste disposal, chemical treatment of Acknowledgments in-place contaminants, capping, or dredging Financial support from the Natural Sciences and Encan be undertaken; these actions are, however, gineering Research Council of Canada, the Quebec Fond costly. It is clear that the development of rapour la Formation de Chercheurs et I’Aide a la Recherche, tional, effective, and economical strategies to the World Wildlife Toxicology Fund, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment is solve the problem of contaminated sediments acknowledged. will depend greatly on our ability to predict Our initial selection of suitable lakes benefited from how remedial actions will improve water qualinformation provided by S. Hinch, B. LaZerte, and G. ity and how these changed conditions will afMackie. The technical assistance provided by M. Geoffroy-Bordeleau and B. Veilleux, and the diving skills of feet aquatic organisms (Wetzel 199 1). ImporR. Beauchemin and R. Rodrigue are gratefully acknowltant progress in this direction will be made edged. We thank R. Carignan, L. Hare, M. Huerta-Diaz, only by understanding the biogeochemical S. N. Luoma, F. M. M. Morel, and an anonymous reviewer processes governing metal accumulation by for critical comments on the manuscript. benthic organisms under field situations.