Controls on magnesium, manganese, strontium, and barium concentrations recorded in freshwater mussel shells from Ohio

Thomas J. Geeza, David P. Gillikin, David H. Goodwin, Scott D. Evans, Thomas Watters, Nathaniel R. Warner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Freshwater bivalve shells may record inter-annual fluctuations in water chemistry, which in turn may archive variations in solute load due to pollution or discharge events. Here, using weekly surface water chemistry collected at two locations and shells of Lampsilis cardium grown in the surface water we investigate if the Mg/Ca, Mn/Ca, Sr/Ca, and Ba/Ca ratios measured at high resolution in the shells on an intra-annual time scale consistently reflect the chemistry of the surface water. Two relationships appear highly correlated, Sr/Cacarb and Sr/Cawater, and Mn/Cacarb and temperature. Ba/Cacarb correlated strongly with Ba/Cawater in one shell but temperature in another shell yielding inconclusive results. Mn/Cacarb and Mg/Cacarb were not strongly correlated with elemental ratios in the water, but Mn/Cacarb did show variable, weak to moderate correlation with pH. We found consistent partition coefficient (DMe) values between individual shell samples grown in the same water with mean DMg = 0.0006, DMn = 17, DBa = 0.13, and DSr = 0.176. Sr/Cacarb and Sr/Cawater exhibited the strongest, most consistent correlation with partitioning coefficients that were consistent with published values, suggesting Sr/Cacarb can be used as a proxy for Sr/Cawater in freshwater mussels.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)142-152
Number of pages11
JournalChemical Geology
Volume526
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 5 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geology
  • Geochemistry and Petrology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Controls on magnesium, manganese, strontium, and barium concentrations recorded in freshwater mussel shells from Ohio'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this