An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) and the Large Lakes Observatory (LLO) at the University of Minnesota Duluth is working to assess relationships between legacy and emerging contaminants, sediment biogeochemical processes, and ecological stressor-response relationships in sediments of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Our overall objective is to advance understanding of the complex and interdependent relationships between environmental distributions of persistent bioaccumulative toxic contaminants (PBTs), biogeochemical cycling in sediments, and overall ecosystem health in the Great Lakes. Sediments will be collected from each of the Great Lakes from 2021 - 2025 at 157 sample stations, including 15 long-term sediment records. A robust suite of chemical, physical, and biological analyses will be performed on sediments, including quantification of trace levels of over 250 legacy and emerging organic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The assessment will provide the most comprehensive PBT distribution, biogeochemical, and ecological data set for the Great Lakes to date, transforming our understanding of the underlying factors that affect the overall ecological health of the Great Lakes. Preliminary legacy and emerging organic contaminant data from the 2021 survey of Lake Superior sediment will be presented.

Primary Presenter: Bridget Ulrich, Natural Resources Research Institute (ulrichb@d.umn.edu)

Authors:

Bridget Ulrich, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth   (ulrichb@d.umn.edu)

Christopher Filstrup, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth   (filstrup@d.umn.edu)

Kathryn Schreiner, University of Minnesota Duluth   (kschrein@d.umn.edu)

Euan Reavie, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth   (ereavie@d.umn.edu)

Chan Lan Chun, Civil Engineering Department & Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth   (chun0157@d.umn.edu)

Hunter Peterson, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth   (pet02982@d.umn.edu)

Sophia Nelson, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth   (nel01409@umn.edu)

Devin Edge, Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) University of Minnesota Duluth  (edgex021@d.umn.edu)