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University of the Pacific

The distribution and accumulation of mercury, lead, and cadmium in selected species of the northern California intertidal mussel bed

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The mussel bed and its multitude of inhabitants form a life community typical of our intertidal, rocky, open-coast areas. These animals are essentially immobile, are conveniently available at low tide, and have been well defined in their consumer order. Certain main members from this community were chosen with the intention that they would represent an index of heavy metal pollution for a given area under different seasonal and other variable conditions. Samples for monitoring were collected from two different sites. The first site was immediately outside the entrance to San Francisco Bay and located between Seal Rocks and Phelan Beach State Parks. This location was chosen to represent a water mass of supposed maximum pollution. The Golden Gate can be assumed to be the funnel through which flows all waters from the San Joaquin and Sacramento River drainages and from the San Francisco Bay area itself. The second site, immediately north of the Dillon Beach township, located at the juncture of Bodega and Tomales Bays, was chosen since it might represent a water mass of minimum pollution. This area is not immediately near any large urban influence, industrial activity or subject to heavy auto traffic. Therefore, at the outset it was hoped that the “immobile” consumer order within the mussel bed community would reflect the relative pollution of two supposedly different water masses.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science (M.S.)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Graduate Studies
Year dc:date.available
1974

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Khanna, Vijay Kumar
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Bartlett D. Whelton

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1847
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-2846

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of the Pacific
Base URL
scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Khanna, Vijay Kumar. The distribution and accumulation of mercury, lead, and cadmium in selected species of the northern California intertidal mussel bed. Thesis thesis, 1974. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1847