Trace Element Concentrations in Bearded Seals (Erignathus barbatus) Near Red Dog Mine Compared to Other Locations in Alaska

Table 1

Trace element concentrations (𝜇g/g wet weight) in bearded seal liver samples from nine seals harvested near the Red Dog Mine port site (RDM) and 15 seals harvested near reference sites. Concentrations are summarized as arithmetic and geometric means, arithmetic standard deviations, and ranges. Detection limits are presented in Table 2. Elements in which concentrations were found to be significantly different between sites are in bold.

Element	Site	Arithmetic mean	Geometric mean	Arithmetic SD	Range
		(𝜇g/g wet weight)	(𝜇g/g wet weight)
Al	RDM	1.10	1.03	0.46	0.84–1.91
	reference	0.61	0.50	0.45	0.29–1.72
As	RDM	0.58	0.52	0.28	0.22–1.15
	reference	0.41	0.31	0.32	0.04–1.13
B	RDM	0.28	0.28	0.01	0.27–0.3
	reference	0.36	0.34	0.17	0.28–0.89
Ba	RDM	0.09	0.08	0.07	0.07–0.29
	reference	0.03	0.03	0.00	0.03–0.03
Be	RDM	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.01–0.01
	reference	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.01–0.02
Cd	RDM	5.24	4.25	2.99	0.97–10.59
	reference	7.12	0.94	11.16	0.01–39.93
Cr	RDM	0.07	0.07	0.00	0.07–0.07
	reference	0.13	0.07	0.19	0.01–0.77
Cu	RDM	40.71	38.72	13.80	19.84–70.74
	reference	24.65	21.82	12.12	7.8–42.78
Fe	RDM	598.40	589.44	108.23	421.5–781.44
	reference	620.09	575.16	238.49	272.91–1078.68
Hg	RDM	3.23	3.08	1.05	1.92–5.22
	reference	3.93	1.25	7.28	0.13–28.31
Mg	RDM	185.36	184.80	15.58	168.02–216.75
	reference	183.76	182.62	20.09	127.88–218.73
Mn	RDM	5.09	5.02	0.84	3.52–6.29
	reference	4.51	4.36	1.25	2.67–6.78
Mo	RDM	0.35	0.33	0.13	0.27–0.58
	reference	0.34	0.33	0.10	0.28–0.61
Ni	RDM	0.08	0.08	0.02	0.07–0.14
	reference	0.07	0.06	0.02	0.03–0.08
Pb	RDM	0.03	0.03	0.00	0.03–0.03
	reference	0.04	0.04	0.02	0.03–0.09
Se	RDM	4.79	4.68	1.10	3.4–6.5
	reference	4.35	3.19	4.58	1.29–18.48
Sr	RDM	0.21	0.18	0.14	0.12–0.57
	reference	0.28	0.21	0.34	0.09–1.47
V	RDM	0.70	0.41	0.88	0.07–2.9
	reference	0.29	0.18	0.30	0.07–1.01
Zn	RDM	62.45	62.26	5.09	54.91–68.85
	reference	62.85	59.19	23.07	30.83–115.19