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Puget Sound Sediment Quality, Washington State Department of Ecology, 1997-1999

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 08:18 AM | Dataset Last Updated: July 07, 2025 at 12:00 AM
As a component of a three year cooperative effort of the Washington State Department of Ecology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sediments from 100 locations in northern Puget Sound were tested to determine their relative quality. The survey area encompassed the region from Port Gardner Bay north to the US / Canada border, excluding the San Juan Islands. Surficial sediments were tested and analyzed from each of the 100 locations. Data from the chemical analyses indicated that toxicologically significant contamination was restricted in scope to a relatively small portion of the region. The spatial extent of relatively severe contamination varied considerably among chemicals; however, less than 2% of the area was considered contaminated for most substances. Sediments from several sampling locations within Everett Harbor often had the highest chemical concentrations. In addition, samples from some stations in Bellingham Bay and other locations scattered throughout the study area had elevated concentrations of some substances. Data from four kinds of toxicity tests indicated a similar pattern: the degree of toxicity was highest in samples from Everett Harbor followed by those from other locations scattered within the survey region. The spatial extent of significant toxicity ranged from 0% to 5% among the toxicity tests. Wide ranges in several numerical indices of benthic infaunal structure indicated good correspondence with tests of toxicity and the concentrations of numerous chemical substances. That is, there was evidence of altered benthic populations in some areas nearest urban centers. Chemical contamination and toxicity of sediments were less severe in northern Puget Sound than in many other estuarine areas studied in the U.S. by NOAA. Results from similar analyses of samples from the central Puget Sound (sampled in 1998) and southern Puget Sound (sampled in 1999) will be compiled with the data from northern Puget Sound, to provide a broad-scale evaluation and quantitation of the spatial scales and patterns in sediment quality throughout the entire region.

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0000054 0000270 0000425 0000592 BENTHIC COMMUNITIES BENTHIC SPECIES BIOCHEMISTRY ORGANIC CHEMICALS

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describedByType application/octet-steam
description As a component of a three year cooperative effort of the Washington State Department of Ecology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sediments from 100 locations in northern Puget Sound were tested to determine their relative quality. The survey area encompassed the region from Port Gardner Bay north to the US / Canada border, excluding the San Juan Islands. Surficial sediments were tested and analyzed from each of the 100 locations. Data from the chemical analyses indicated that toxicologically significant contamination was restricted in scope to a relatively small portion of the region. The spatial extent of relatively severe contamination varied considerably among chemicals; however, less than 2% of the area was considered contaminated for most substances. Sediments from several sampling locations within Everett Harbor often had the highest chemical concentrations. In addition, samples from some stations in Bellingham Bay and other locations scattered throughout the study area had elevated concentrations of some substances. Data from four kinds of toxicity tests indicated a similar pattern: the degree of toxicity was highest in samples from Everett Harbor followed by those from other locations scattered within the survey region. The spatial extent of significant toxicity ranged from 0% to 5% among the toxicity tests. Wide ranges in several numerical indices of benthic infaunal structure indicated good correspondence with tests of toxicity and the concentrations of numerous chemical substances. That is, there was evidence of altered benthic populations in some areas nearest urban centers. Chemical contamination and toxicity of sediments were less severe in northern Puget Sound than in many other estuarine areas studied in the U.S. by NOAA. Results from similar analyses of samples from the central Puget Sound (sampled in 1998) and southern Puget Sound (sampled in 1999) will be compiled with the data from northern Puget Sound, to provide a broad-scale evaluation and quantitation of the spatial scales and patterns in sediment quality throughout the entire region.
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions/iso/xml/WADOE-SedQual.xml
issued 2001-04-16T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
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  "0000054",
  "0000270",
  "0000425",
  "0000592",
  "BENTHIC COMMUNITIES",
  "BENTHIC SPECIES",
  "BIOCHEMISTRY",
  "ORGANIC CHEMICALS",
  "POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS",
  "POLYNUCLEAR AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAH)",
  "SALINITY",
  "SEDIMENT - GRAIN SIZE",
  "SEDIMENT PROPERTIES",
  "SEDIMENTS",
  "SPECIES IDENTIFICATION",
  "TOXIC METALS",
  "TOXIN",
  "TRACE METALS",
  "WATER TEMPERATURE",
  "ZOOPLANKTON",
  "ZOOPLANKTON BIOMASS",
  "ZOOPLANKTON IDENTITIES",
  "sediment sampler - corer",
  "sediment sampler - grab",
  "benthic",
  "biological",
  "chemical",
  "geological",
  "sediment analysis",
  "site samples",
  "survey - biological",
  "time series",
  "water chemistry",
  "R/V KITTIWAKE",
  "NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science",
  "US DOC/NOAA/National Ocean Service - Seattle, WA",
  "Washington State Department of Ecology",
  "NOAA National Ocean Service",
  "Washington State Department of Ecology",
  "NATIONAL STATUS and TRENDS (NS&T)",
  "PUGET SOUND AMBIENT MONITORING PROGRAM (PSAMP)",
  "Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia",
  "Northeast Pacific Ocean (limit-180)",
  "Puget Sound",
  "oceanography",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NODC > National Oceanographic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NOS > National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS > National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "NS&T > National Status and Trends Program",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > AGRICULTURE > ANIMAL SCIENCE > ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > PLANKTON > ZOOPLANKTON",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > MARINE SEDIMENTS",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > SALINITY",
  "GRAB SAMPLERS",
  "SEDIMENT CORERS > SEDIMENT CORERS",
  "OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN"
]
landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2025-07-07T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
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  "@type": "org:Organization"
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rights otherRestrictions
spatial -122.0,47.0,-124.0,49.0
temporal 1997-01-01T00:00:00+00:00/1999-06-30T00:00:00+00:00
theme 
[
  "geospatial"
]
title Puget Sound Sediment Quality, Washington State Department of Ecology, 1997-1999

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