Calculating Background Levels for Ecological Risk Parameters in Toxic Harbor Sediment

From: Soil & Sediment Contamination | Date: September 1, 2007| Author: Leadon, Christopher J; McDonnell, Thomas R; Lear, Janet; Barclift, David | Copyright information

Establishing background levels for biological parameters is necessary in assessing the ecological risks from harbor sediment contaminated with toxic chemicals. For chemicals in sediment, the term contaminated is defined as having concentrations above background and significant human health or ecological risk levels. For biological parameters, a site could be considered contaminated if levels of the parameter are either more or less than the background level, depending on the specific paramete...