Preliminary Results and Optimization Efforts of Water Sampling of the Year Two Analysis for Microfibers in Lake Allatoona Water and Beach Sand
Disciplines
Environmental Chemistry
Abstract (300 words maximum)
This multi-year study of microfibers in Lake Allatoona water and beach sediment is in year two. The current on-going efforts to optimize the procedures and current preliminary results will be reported. Year one results for water analysis indicated a potential for carryover between water samples due to the use of plankton nets. Year two sampling is thus being optimized to avoid such carryovers by using "hand pumps" which have been calibrated (for example: volume per stroke, time and stroke number to acquire 2.0 m3). The "hand pumps" pump the water into the 3-inch 250 um filters that collect the microfibers rather than the plankton nets. This eliminates one step in the extraction procedure. Year one results for the sediment samples were performed on sediments primarily from boat launch sites. Six, year-two, beach samples obtained at the start of 2023 are from the same water sampling sites as year one and two. Following a recently optimized extraction method (optimized since year one results), results from the first two of six, year-two, beach samples are reported. Comparisons are made to the year one results.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CSM - Chemistry and Biochemistry
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Marina Koether
Preliminary Results and Optimization Efforts of Water Sampling of the Year Two Analysis for Microfibers in Lake Allatoona Water and Beach Sand
This multi-year study of microfibers in Lake Allatoona water and beach sediment is in year two. The current on-going efforts to optimize the procedures and current preliminary results will be reported. Year one results for water analysis indicated a potential for carryover between water samples due to the use of plankton nets. Year two sampling is thus being optimized to avoid such carryovers by using "hand pumps" which have been calibrated (for example: volume per stroke, time and stroke number to acquire 2.0 m3). The "hand pumps" pump the water into the 3-inch 250 um filters that collect the microfibers rather than the plankton nets. This eliminates one step in the extraction procedure. Year one results for the sediment samples were performed on sediments primarily from boat launch sites. Six, year-two, beach samples obtained at the start of 2023 are from the same water sampling sites as year one and two. Following a recently optimized extraction method (optimized since year one results), results from the first two of six, year-two, beach samples are reported. Comparisons are made to the year one results.