A 47.0 cm lake core was taken from Panther Hollow Lake, a small manmade lake located in Schenley Park within the City of Pittsburgh. The core was analyzed for geochemical evidence of the regions industrial history during the twentieth century. Physical and geochemical proxies showed that the lake sediments contained trace metal concentrations that are an order of magnitude above natural background levels, including high levels of heavy metals throughout the period of study and increasing concentrations of alkali and alkali earth metals. Lead was found at concentrations as high as 350 ppm in the core although chromium, arsenic, nickel, and vanadium are all well above background levels throughout the twentieth century. Depths were converted to age assuming a 0.5 cm/yr sedimentation rate. Using this age model, the shifts in concentrations of the industry-related metals align with changes made to environmental laws and industrial output in the region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12112008-194258 |
| Date | 15 January 2009 |
| Creators | Cassidy, Brianne Michelle |
| Contributors | Mark B. Abbott, Daniel J. Bain, Michael F. Rosenmeier |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12112008-194258/ |
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