Establishing Baseline Moss Tissue and Snowpack Elemental Isotopic Ratios at Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in Northwestern Alaska Using Pb Isotopes

Project ID: G20AC00426

Federal Agency: U.S. Geological Survey

Partner Institution: Oregon State University

Fiscal Year: 2020

Initial Funding: $25,475

Total Funding: $25,475

Principal Investigator: Shiel, Alyssa

Agreement Technical Representative: Cleveland, Danielle

Abstract: The goal of this project is to continue and enhance efforts to develop baseline elemental concentrations and deposition models currently in-progress for Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA) and Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR).

The objective of this is to develop an elemental baseline in moss tissue and snowpack in BELA and to describe depositional patterns prior to the expected expansion in shipping traffic and industrial development. These products will allow for future trend assessments of deposition and ecological effects.
Substantial involvement is anticipated through the terms of this Agreement between the USGS and the Recipient. A summary of the involvement is as follows: The USGS will be involved in all stages of this project, from project conception, sampling and analytical design, quality assurance and quality control, sample analyses, data interpretation, and publication. The success of all these tasks will require close collaboration among USGS, NPS, and CESU team members. In return, USGS staff will learn invaluable information about Pb isotopic analysis, source attribution, and data interpretation from the CESU recipients; the ability to perform source attribution using stable isotopes is a critical component for contaminants analysis across the USGS mission areas. In this way, this CESU agreement will provide cutting edge science and impact future USGS science in a meaningful way.