Environmental Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination in Yellowstone National Park

Abstract

Heavy metals in our National Parks and Forest, their transport processes, environmental distributions and biological effects have been the focus of increasing concern. Direct toxicity to higher organisms and man are the center of this concern, with transport phenomena, ultimate fate and aqueous chemistry as further focus points. It is well known that heavy metal concentrations in soils, plants, and water along heavily traveled roads tend to show increased levels compared to control sites. The current research is to assess the contamination of roadside waters of Yellowstone National Park due primarily to the intensive summer automobile traffic and increasing winter visitation and oversnow vehicles.