Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program collected tissue samples from a variety of aquatic organisms during 1992–1999 within 47 study units across the United States. These tissue samples were collected to determine the occurrence and distribution of 20 major and minor trace elements in aquatic organisms. This report presents the tissue trace-element concentration data, sample summaries, and concentration statistics for 1,457 tissue samples representing 76 species or groups of fish, aquatic invertebrates, and plants were collected at 824 sampling sites.

Table of Contents

Figure 1. Locations of National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) study units where tissue samples of aquatic organisms were collected, 1992-1999.
Additional information about these study units can be found at: http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studies/study_units_listing.html.
Figure 2. Distribution of NAWQA fish-tissue collection sites in rivers and streams of the United States. 1992-1999.
Figure 3. Distribution of NAWQA invertebrate-tissue collection sites in rivers and streams of the United States, 1992-1999.

Tables

Table 1. (A) Trace element concentrations and percent moisture in aquatic tissue samples, 1992–1999,
(B) Metadata for column headings
Table 2. Number of samples by species and tissue type
Table 3. Number of samples by species and study unit (species with 10 or more samples)
Table 4. Summary statistics for trace-element concentrations and percent moisture for most common species-tissue types