Supported by: Richard G. Keil, Randy Shuman, Dana Walker, Betsy Cooper, Deborah Lester, and Chuck Nittrouer.

Topic Proposal:

. The contaminants washed into Puget Sound, Washington everyday concern the citizens that care for it. In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness that marine pollution and other anthropogenic impacts on coastal waterways may have the potential to damage marine fish stocks (Johnson, 1994). Since the majority of the people that live in the Pacific Northwest consume fish, this is an indication that changes must be made.

For several years now, scientists have been gathering samples and documenting contaminants discovered within the sediments and fish tissues collected from Puget Sound. 17β-estradiol (oestradiol) and ethinylestradiol are hormones that are just starting to be recognized as contaminants. 17β-estradiol represents the major estrogen in humans and is a natural hormone. It is produced within the gonads and the brain. Ethinylestradiol is anthropogenic and used commonly in oral contraceptives to prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation (Wikipedia, 2007). Despite the fact that these hormones are contained within human beings, they are making their way into Puget Sound and into the fish inhabiting the mighty waterway (Johnson, 1994). English Sole, a sediment-dwelling fish, has been documented with deformations and inhibition of pregnancy (Malins, 2006). The question dwells, is Estradiol contaminating the fish to the point that they can't spawn?

The objective of this project is to determine the levels of both 17β-estradiol and ethinylestradiol contained within Puget Sound. The samples will be gathered on the R/V Thomas G. Thompson from 19-23 March 2007. I will collect sediment samples using a Van Veen grab sampler along a transect from South Puget Sound to the North next to the San Juan Islands. I will deploy three piston cores about 2 m long with a 2.5 cm radius. The sites for deployment are at the southernmost station, half-way through Main Basin, and near the San Juan Islands at the northernmost station. The sediment contained within these cores will be used to calculate an accumulation rate and date the layers (Lavelle, 1986). This analysis will occur in Chuck Nittrouer's lab. The sediment collected from the cores and the grab will then be tested for the two types of Estradiol using SachsLab, Richard Keil's and Metro King County's labs. After the analysis is complete, questions that involve the safety of this region will be answered.

References:

Carpenter, R. et al. 1985. ²¹⁰Pb-Derived sediment accumulation and mixing rates for the greater Puget Sound region. Mar. Geo., 64:291-312.

Carr, R.S. et al. 2001. Sediment toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) studies at marine sites suspected of Ordnance contamination. Arch. Environ. Toxicol. 41: 298-307.

Johnson, L.L., and J.T. Landahl. 1994. Chemical contaminants, liver disease, and mortality rates in English Sole (pleuronectes vetulus). Ecol. Applic., 4:59-68.

Lavelle, J.W. et al. 1986. Accumulation rates of recent sediments in Puget Sound, Washington. Mar. Geo., 72:59-70.

Malins, Donald C. et al. 2006. Biomarkers signal contaminant effects on the organs of English Sole (parophrys vetulus) from Puget Sound. Environ. Heal. Perspec., 114: 823-829.

Peterson, E.W. et al. 2000. 17 β-Estradiol as an indicator of animal waste contamination in mantled karst aquifers. J. Environ. Qual., 29:826-834.

Wikipedia. 2007. "Estradiol." http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estradiol 18 January 2007.

Tables and Figures:

Figure 1 Two-Dimensional structure of 17β-Estradiol

Figure 2 Two-Dimensional structure of Ethinylestradiol.

Brittany Kimball

Figure 1

Brittany Kimball

Figure 2