Peter Swarzenski
The first objective was to use geochemical tracers such as isotopes of radon and radium and cations/anions (e.g., calcium, magnesium) to identify water masses. Other water quality parameters are necessary in understanding potential sources of contamination to the ecosystem. Air and surface water sources are relatively easy to investigate but groundwater beneath a marine system is much more difficult to access. This project quantified water quality parameters such as nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus species), trace elements (e.g., zinc, copper, arsenic), wastewater compounds (e.g., 17beta-estradiols, coprostanol, caffeine, surfactants), pesticides (e.g., Lindane, Endosulfan, DDT), as well as field parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature). These parameters were used to characterize the groundwater beneath Biscayne Bay.
The second objective to further our understanding of the subsurface flow regime beneath Biscayne Bay and within Biscayne National Park. Groundwater flow is driven by changes in water level (potentiometric surface gradient) in the adjacent Biscayne Aquifer. Potentiometric surfaces for groundwater have been investigated extensively for onshore regions of south Florida and to some extent for the coastline, but no information exists farther offshore. To complicate natural flow gradients, tidal pumping is known to create flow patterns in marine groundwaters. Although tidal pumping has been investigated using seepage meters, it is most accurately quantified by using observation wells. Determining the pressure gradients produced between groundwater and surface water by the action of tidal pumping can potentially provide data on vertical and horizontal groundwater movement.
Stewart, Mark
accessed as of 8/23/2010
Radtke, D. B.; Gibs, J.; Iwatsubo, R.T.
Smith, S. G.; Schroeder, M. P.; Barber, L. B.; Burkhardt, M. R.
Porter, K.
Three elements (arsenic, nickel and bromine), typically determined in fresh water by this method, had serious interferences from the high concentrations of calcium and magnesium in seawater and had to be excluded from the results.
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Government
Well Locations
Six well-cluster sites have been established in a 25-km-long transect leading from onshore to offshore The near shore site 1 (Black Point Inshore) is a single well located south of Black Point. The well head is approximately 2 ft below sea level, and the well penetrates to a depth of 17 ft below seafloor (fbsf), terminating in a quartz-sand zone of the Miami Limestone (Fish and Stewart, 1991). Site 2 (Mid-Bay) is located in the middle of Biscayne Bay approximately 9 ft below sea level and consists of three monitoring wells to depths of 15, 33, and 42 fbsf. Sites 3 and 4 are located on opposite sides of Elliott Key. Site 3 (Billys Point), the bayside site, consists of two wells at 6 and 22 fbsf. Site 4 (Petrel Point), the seaward site, consists of two wells at 20 and 45 fbsf. Site 5 (Alinas Reef) is located on a patch reef where diverse reef research and monitoring is continuing and is a site where BNP staff have recorded low conductivity (salinity) on a moored instrument (Porter and Porter, 2002, p. 12-13). Three wells installed at Alinas Reef provide sampling access to 12, 32, and 60 fbsf. Site 6, located south of the Pacific Reef light structure, consists of two monitoring wells to depths of 10 and 41 fbsf. For comparison, a pre-existing shallow (80 ft, below land surface) onshore well in the Biscayne Aquifer was sampled, as well as an additional well (BkP, 20 fbsf) located just offshore of the Black Point site.
1. Well Installation
Well installation was accomplished by SCUBA divers with surface support. A USGS work boat, hydraulic-powered drill, and standard 5-ft NQ-2 wire-line core barrels and drill rods were used for core drilling. SCUBA divers drilled most of the offshore wells. Rock cores obtained during drilling are 2 in. (50 mm) in diameter. Each hole drilled was completed as a water-quality monitoring well.
2. Water sampling
Preparation - The bottles for each constituent went through a four-step cleaning process. The bottles (except baked-glass bottles) were first washed in Liquinox, then rinsed in tap water, followed by soaking in a 10% HCl solution for 30 min, and finally rinsed in de- ionized (DI) water. The same procedure was followed for all tubing, fittings, and equipment (the acid rinse was not used on metallic equipment). Bottles were capped, and labels placed on the bottles. Prior to field collection, bottles were pre-rinsed twice with de-ionized (DI) water to save time in the field. Bottles were sorted for each well site and placed in double zipper bags. The same doublebagging method was used for tubing and other equipment and supplies that would come in contact with water samples. Three or four days prior to field sampling, Gelman capsule filters (0.45-µm) were pre-conditioned with DI water.
Collection - Once on site, a diver was sent to connect a fitting to the wellhead. The fitting provided a tight seal so that surface water could not enter when pumping commenced. The fitting was attached to Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tubing that reached from the wellhead to the boat. The PTFE tubing was connected to peristaltic tubing (C-flex), which passed through a peristaltic pump and was then split, with one tube leading to a multi-probe (temperature, pH, oxygen-reduction potential (ORP), salinity, and dissolved oxygen) and the other to the sampling chamber. Several well volumes of water were pumped from the well. After readings on the probe stabilized, values were recorded in a notebook. The tubing to the probe was clamped and flow to the chamber commenced. Throughout water collection, 'clean hands/dirty hands' procedures were followed.
A collection chamber was assembled, which was constructed of a PVC frame with a clear Polyethylene bag clipped to the frame. The chamber created an enclosure where samples were collected in bottles and helped assure that atmospheric deposition or other possible sources of contamination did not enter the sample. The person designated 'dirty hands' opened the outer zipper bag and the person designated 'clean hands' pulled the inner zipper bag out and placed it in the chamber. Only the 'clean-hands' person touched the bottles and tubing inside the chamber. Bottles were rinsed once and then filled to the appropriate level. This procedure was conducted for all bottles for each well. Finally, the bottles were removed from the chamber for preservation (acidification).
Preservation - Some studies require a second chamber called a preservation chamber for acidification of samples. After each well site was sampled and before anchor is pulled to move to next well site, the tubing was rinsed with a 0.1% Liquinox solution and followed by a DI rinse until Liquinox soap residual was unnoticeable.
3. Sample Analyses
Salinity (specific conductance), temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), oxidation- reduction potential (ORP or Redox), and pH were measured in the field using a multi- parameter probe (YSI model 556MP). Hydrochemistry for 64 trace elements were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) at Actlabs-Skyline in Tucson, Arizona.
Three elements (arsenic, nickel and bromine), typically determined in fresh water by this method, had serious interferences from the high concentrations of calcium and magnesium in seawater and had to be excluded from the results. Groundwater and surface-water nutrients (ammonium, nitrates, nitrites, total soluble nitrogen, total soluble phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus) were analyzed on a nutrient auto-analyzer at the University of Florida. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was analyzed at the USGS Water Quality Laboratory in Ocala, FL, on a Shimadzu TOC-5050A analyzer with an ASI-5000A auto sampler. Determination of 66 wastewater compounds in ground- and surface-water samples were conducted at the U.S Geological Survey National Water Quality Lab in Denver, CO. USGS analytical procedures for wastewater compounds were by solid-phase extraction (SPE) and subsequent gas-chromatograph mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses (Zaugg and others, 2002). Radium and radon samples were analyzed at the USGS Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies (CCWS) office in St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg lab used an alpha-scintillation counter for measuring the four isotopes of radium (223, 224, 226, and 228). Strontium-isotope ratios (87Sr to 86Sr) were determined for selected samples by the University of Florida in Gainesville (August 2002) and Geochron Laboratories in Cambridge, MA (March 2004) using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS).
All samples were shipped immediately (via FedEx) upon return to the CCWS office in St. Petersburg. Holding times for nutrients were < 28 days per USGS protocols when kept frozen; 223Ra and 224Ra were run in house as soon as possible due to their short half-life (11.4 days and 3.7 days, respectively); trace elements were shipped to Actlabs and run within 4 to 6 weeks; and wastewater compounds were run in the order in which they were received at the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory (Denver, CO). Turn-around time ranged from 6 to 8 weeks.
4. Potentiometric measurements
Our fourth task was to investigate the hydrology of the region by installing pressure transducers in many, if not all, of the wells. The transducers were started, placed in the wells, and left to collect data on pressure variations within the wells. A transducer was also mounted to the outside of the well to collect data on surface water-level changes (tides). Well- and surface-pressure data were compared to determine if potentiometric gradients occurred between subsurface and surface that would indicate either positive vertical flow (discharge) or negative vertical flow (recharge).
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Government
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
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