USGS - science for a changing world

Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center

  CMERSC Home | About Us | Our Science | Projects | Products | Contact Us

Geochemical Landscapes

Landscape Geochemistry in National Parks


Task Contact: David B. Smith | Objectives


Objectives

National parks are areas largely set aside to protect exceptional natural environments, including their wildlife. Baseline geochemistry in national parks provides information about the existing environment that can be integrated into planning and management of the parks. Unusual concentrations of elements, including some that are potentially toxic, can have a negative impact on flora and fauna in the parks. These concentrations may be natural or anthropogenic. Identifying and delineating the sources of such concentrations will thus assist Park scientists in addressing environmental problems and wildlife health issues.

Two national parks with distinctly different environments were studied. In Yellowstone National Park, a cool weather, high-elevation, forested region, the regional chemistry of rocks, stream sediments, and large-animal scat were examined to identify correlations between potentially toxic elements such as As, F, Hg, and Mo, which are related to hydrothermal features, and animal health. In Joshua Tree National Park, a hot-weather, low-desert region, the regional chemistry of rocks, stream sediment, and mine waste products were studied to identify and delineate those elements associated with past mining in the park, such as As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, and U. Some of these elements may be toxic to wildlife, including the desert tortoise, a threatened species that has prime habitat in the Park.

Return to top of this page | Previous Task | Next Task | Task List

Mineral Resources Program
Eastern Central Western Alaska Minerals Information Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Spatial Data

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

Take Pride in America logo USAGov logo U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://minerals.cr.usgs.gov/projects/geochemical_landscapes/task10.html
Page Contact Information: CMERSC Webmaster
Page Last Modified: 04-Mar-2013@14:35