Antimicrobial-resistant coliforms in New York Bight

A preliminary study of sediments and overlying water samples obtained at the approximate centre of the sewage sludge bed in the New York Bight, revealed significant numbers of coliforms resistant to antibiotics and heavy metals. Some of the isolates were shown to transfer antibiotic resistance during conjugation with a recipient strain of Salmonella gallinarum. The selection of bacterial populations resistant to antimicrobials may be significant in the ecology of this impoverished area, and requires further study.     

Trace metals in sediments of New York Bight

Concentrations of chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc in superficial sediments in New York Bight are ten to a hundred times greater near waste disposal areas than in uncontaminated sediments. Some wastes are transported by currents north-east towards Long Island and south-east along the Hudson Submarine Valley.     

Drug-resistance transfer in Escherichia coli in New York Bight sediment

Sediment from the sewage sludge dump site area in the New York Bight contains bacteria resistant to antibiotics and heavy metals. The purpose of this study was to determine if antibiotic resistance could be transferred from donor to recipient Escherichia coli strains inoculated into glass vessels containing sediment and seawater obtained near the dump site. Temperature was maintained at 10°C, the mean winter temperature of benthic water at the dump site. Transconjugants (recipients which inherit donor genes for tetracycline resistance) were isolated from the seawater and sediment within one hour after inoculation and were found in all subsequent sediment samples for one month. Donor and recipient E. coli remained viable in the sediment for at least one month. Our results indicate that sewage sludge polluted sediment may serve as an environment conducive to conjugal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes.     

Polychlorinated biphenyls in sewage sludge and sediments of the New York Bight

Sediments of the New York Bight were analysed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and found to be heavily contaminated by such substances. The highest concentrations are adjacent to an offshore sludge dump zone, implying that the primary source of PCBs is sewage sludge in the area under consideration. Widespread transport of PCBs out of the bight is not evident as the area of contamination is limited to areas of mud accumulation. The PCB profile in a core of these mud facies can be historically correlated to the commercial production of PCBs.     

An externally forced barotropic circulation model for the New York Bight

The sea level and the barotropic, frictional circulation response for the New York Bight are used to demonstrate the effects of external sea-level forcing, bathymetry, and variable friction. The governing equation is the steady, integrated vorticity equation and is computed by finite differencing over a curvilinear grid conforming to the 10- and 100-m isobaths and extending for 250 km alongshore. The boundary conditions are based on the hypothesis that the dynamics of the shelf are driven by the external sea-level gradient and the coastal no-flux condition; and consequently the conditions at the lateral boundaries are dependent thereon. Therefore, the external sea-level slope must be independently specified, and the lateral boundary conditions must be dependently generated. The diabathic component of the external sea slope forces the calm wind circulation by its effect on the transport through the upstream boundary; and the parabathic component has also an important modifying effect by forcing a shelf convergent transport. The parabathic sea slope at the coast is independent of its offshore value, being instead a direct product of the coastal boundary condition.The bottom friction is expressed as related to the sea level through a bottom length parameter and a veer angle, both of which are taken to increase shoreward. An additional bottom stress component, related to the surface stress, is determined for bottom depths less than the Ekman depth. Such bottom stress variability produces significant alterations in the nearshore flow field, over the constant bottom stress formulation, by reducing it and causing it to veer downgradient and downwind in the nearshore.The model is forced by different wind directions and the results are discussed. The circulations generally conform to the observed mean flow patterns, but with several smaller-scale features. The strong bathymetric feature of the Hudson Shelf Valley causes a polarized up- and downvalley flow for winds with an eastward or westward component, respectively. Under mean westerly winds, there is a divergence in the shelf valley flow at about the 60-m isobath. The Apex gyre existing off the western tip of Long Island becomes more extensive for winds changing from northeast to southwest. Mean flow reversals (to the northeast) occur off both Long Island and New Jersey for wind directions changing counterclockwise from northwest to southeast and from west to east, respectively. Southeastward transport over the outer New Jersey shelf tends to be enhanced by wind and external sea-level conditions; and the transport over the New Jersey midshelf, particularly in the lee of the shelf valley, tends to be weak and variable also under these mean conditions.     

Trace metals in finfish from the New York Bight and Long Island Sound

Concentrations of silver, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc were measured in five species of finfish collected from the New York Bight and two from Long Island Sound. With few exceptions the trace metal contents were similar for the various species examined and also for a single species when comparing catch locations. Metal levels also were similar to concentrations reported by two other investigators who studied fish from the North Atlantic.     

Coincidence of cadmium and antibiotic resistance in New York Bight apex benthic microorganisms

Microorganisms resistant to 1–500 ppm cadmium were isolated over an 11 month period from sediments at the sewage sludge, dredge spoils and industrial acid waste disposal sites, as well as at an estuarine outflow to the New York Bight apex. Tests for antibiotic resistance in these isolates revealed that 94% of the isolates were resistant to one or more antibiotics and that 91% of the original isolates could be characterized by multiple drug resistance. Different selective pressures may account for the various genera and antimicrobial resistance patterns observed. The possibility of extrachromosomal linkage of cadmium and streptomycin resistance is discussed.     

Distribution of faecal coliforms in bottom sediments from the New York Bight

The distribution of faecal coliform densities found in New York Bight sediments indicated that sewage sludge material has contaminated areas extending 11 km north and 37 km south from the disposal site. A high degree of confidence for enumerating faecal coliforms in marine sediments was demonstrated by standard water methodology since 82.3% of the faecal coliform group isolated were Escherichia coli. This study also indicated that marine sediments could be stored 4 days at 4°C without appreciable changes in the faecal coliform count, and that, in situ, faecal coliforms would persist longer when sediment temperatures were low.     

Chemical and toxicological characteristics of sewage sludge ocean dumped in the New York Bight

This paper compares and contrasts data on the chemical characteristics and acute toxicities of the waste from nine applicants (representing 20 sewage treatment facilities) currently disposing of municipal sewage sludge at the 12-Mile dumpsite located in the New York Bight Apex. Each of the chemical analytes examined for the 20 facilities was highly variable, both within and among facilities. Toxicity tests conducted by the applicants revealed that, in the majority of tests, Mysidopsis bahia was the most sensitive of the three species tested. Five facilities that receive large volumes of industrial waste were found to contribute over 75% of the total toxic load to the dumpsite.     

Science, policy and the management of sewage materials. The New York City experience

Development of national policy on sewage sludge management is a classic example of incremental policy formulation [Fiorino, D.J. 1995. Making Environmental Policy. University of California Press. Berkeley, CA. p. 269]. Consequently, policy has developed piecemeal, and results are, in some ways, different than intended. Land application of sewage sludge has not been a panacea. Many of the same types of policy are now being raised about it. We demonstrate this by examining the management of sewage materials by New York City from near the turn of the 20th century, when ocean dumping was viewed as a means to alleviate some of the gross pollution in New York Harbor, to when ocean dumping was banned, and thence to the present when sludge is applied to land as "biosolids." Lessons learned during this long, sometimes contentious history can be applied to present situations--specifically not understanding the long-term consequences of land-based reuse and disposal technologies.     

The removal rates of234Th and228Th from waters of the New York Bight

The mean residence time (τ) of thorium with respect to non-radioactive removal from water was determined as a function of location in three traverses of the New York Bight using both²³⁴Th/²³⁸U and²²⁸Th/²²⁸Ra. τ correlates well with salinity increasing from about ten days near shore to 70 days at the shelf break. It shows a much weaker correlation with suspended matter concentrations both because suspended matter varies in its scavenging efficiency and because salinity is a longer-term integrator of scavenging potential.τ's computed from²²⁸Th/²²⁸Ra were often higher than those computed from²³⁴Th/²³⁸U either because of the detrital matter present as reflected in the²³²Th concentrations or because the water parcels had recently arrived from environments of lower scavenging efficiency.Anomalous isotopic concentrations found in three adjacent samples can best be explained as the result of an episodic release of²²⁸Ra from bottom sediments at a rate 200 times the normal one.     

Sedimentary processes in the inner New York Bight: Evidence from excess210Pb and239,240Pu

Particle-reactive radionuclides were determined in sediments from the inner New York Bight to trace transport and storage of fine-grained sediments and associated reactive materials. Seven sediment ? cores 20–50 cm in length were analyzed for water content, loss on ignition (LOI) and excess²¹⁰Pb; three of these were also analyzed for^239,240Pu. Excepting some depth horizons in a core from a dredge-spoil dumpsite, every sample analyzed contained excess²¹⁰Pb. Variations in the concentration of excess²¹⁰Pb with depth in the sediment at all stations correlated strongly with LOI, which apparently traces that fraction of the sediment which is active in removing reactive elements from the water column. In the cores analyzed for^239,240Pu, every sample contained finite Pu, and Pu concentrations correlated strongly with excess²¹⁰Pb.The radionuclide distributions may be simply viewed as products of steady-state sediment accumulation or of mixing. Geochemically reasonable accumulation rates are very high (0.5–2.6 g/cm² y) and could probably only be sustained by offshore transport of dumped materials. At the other extreme the relationships between excess²¹⁰Pb and LOI are compatible with rapid mixing of a²¹⁰Pb carrier phase (traced by LOI) into the pre-existing substrate with little or no actual accumulation. Other non-steady-state processes, such as sediment gravity flow, could also explain the observed distributions.Measured sediment inventories (dpm/cm²) of excess²¹⁰Pb and Pu at these stations are greatly in excess of those supportable by direct atmospheric deposition: lateral supply is required. Incorporation of sedimentary fines into the sand substrate could make the inner New York Bight an important repository of reactive materials.     

Metavolcanic rocks and their origin,Southern Adirondack mountains,New York

One of the problems associated with massif-type anorthosite in high grade metamorphic terranes is the absence of anorthositic extrusives. However, if anorthosite formed by crystal segregation, volcanic equivalents of the final fluid differentiate might occur. Massive, stratiform hornblende-garnet granitic gneisses occur between two metasedimentary sequences in asynclinorium south of the main Adirondack anorthosite massif and north of the Thirteenth Lake anorthosite dome. The granitic gneisses are divided into three stratigraphic units on the basis of mineralogy. The entire stratigraphic configuration has been traced 70 kilometers laterally, and the interpretation of the literature indicates that it may extend for over 100 kilometers. Earlier workers considered the granitic gneisses to be sill-like intrusives. The following evidence suggests a volcanic origin for these gneisses:

1. A thin (3 to 5 meters) but continuous zone of cale-silicates and quartzite occurs within the sequence of granitic gneisses at the same horizon for some 25 kilometers laterally and does not appear to be truncated nor intruded by the gneisses. This observation virtually precludes an intrusive origin.
2. 2V, of plagioclase (An_24,25) in granulated, augen-shaped zones in the granitic gneisses variesfrom 109° to 120°, whereas 2V, for groundmass plagioclase (also An_{20, 25}) is 84° to 88°. According to the data of Slemmons, the 2V of the granulated augen is characteristic of volcanic (high temperature) plagioclase and that of the groundmass is characteristic of plutonic (low temperature) plagioclase.
3. The great lateral extent of the granitic gneisses suggests that the materials were deposited as volcanic ash or pyroclastics.
4. The stratigraphic coherency of metasedimentary sequences and granitic gneisses indicates that the gneisses are an integral part of the stratigraphy.

A jotunite-mangerite-charnockite suite of intrusives in this area is related to the main anorthosite massif. Since plagioclase augen or their remnants exist in both the granitic gneisses and in the intrusive suite, it is possible that the granitic gneisses and the intrusives were derived from the same magma. It has been suggested that differentiation of the anorthosite suite occurs at considerable depth whereas differentiation of the same magma at shallow depth produces the rapakivi-laboradorite porphyry association of the Fennoscandian region. If the stratiform granitic gneisses and the anorthosite suite in the Adirondacks are comagmatic, differentiation of the magma must have occurred at moderate depth and the parental magma may have been granodioritic and thus more silicic than presumed by most workers.     

Patterns and Rates of Ground-Water Flow on Long Island, New York

Increased ground-water contamination from human activities on Long Island has prompted studies to define the pattern and rate of ground-water movement. A two-dimensional, fine-mesh, finite-element model consisting of 11,969 nodes and 22,880 elements was constructed to represent ground-water flow along a north-south section through central Long Island. The model represents average hydrologic conditions within a corridor approximately 15 miles wide. The model solves discrete approximations of both the potential and stream functions. The resulting flownet depicts flow paths and defines the vertical distribution of flow within the section. Ground-water flow rates decrease with depth. Sixty-two percent of the water flows no deeper than the upper glacial (water-table) aquifer, 38 percent enters the underlying Magothy aquifer, and only 3.1 percent enters the Lloyd aquifer. The limiting streamlines for flow to the Magothy and Lloyd aquifers indicate that aquifer recharge areas are narrow east-west bands through the center of the island. The recharge area of the Magothy aquifer is only 5.4 miles wide; that of the Lloyd aquifer is less than 0.5 miles. The distribution of ground-water traveltime and a flownet are calculated from model results; both are useful in the investigation of contaminant transport or the chemical evolution of ground water within the flow system. A major discontinuity in traveltime occurs across the streamline which separates the flow subsystems of the two confined aquifers. Water that reaches the Lloyd aquifer attains traveltimes as high as 10,000 years, whereas water that has not penetrated deeper than the Magothy aquifer attains traveltimes of only 2,000 years. The finite-element approach used in this study is particularly suited to ground-water systems that have complex hydrostratigraphy and cross-sectional symmetry.