Anthropogenic metal storage in wetland soils across the conterminous United States

Anthropogenic metal storage in wetland soils across the conterminous United States | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Anthropogenic metal storage in wetland soils across the conterminous United States Matthew Dietrich, Michael Dumelle, Amanda M. Nahlik, Heather E. Golden, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v3 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Wetlands → Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Wetlands provide many ecosystem services, such as mitigating pollution, attenuating flooding and drought extremes, and providing habitat for many species. However, studies quantifying potential wetland sequestration of heavy metals as an ecosystem service, particularly across large spatial extents, are sparse. We utilized data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s National Wetland Condition Assessment to estimate anthropogenic metal (Pb, Cu, Cr) storage in the upper 40 centimeters of wetland soils across the conterminous United States—never done before at this scale. Large amounts of anthropogenic Cu and Cr are stored in wetland soil across the conterminous United States, at 299.5 ± 73.2 (95% confidence interval) and 483.4 ± 132.1 thousand metric tons (MT), respectively. Anthropogenic Pb totaled 394.3 ± 265.2 thousand MT, which, for context, is roughly equivalent to 7% of lead-based gasoline additives used in the U.S. between 1927-1994. Between 15-22% of Cu, Cr, and Pb mass stored within the upper 40 cm of wetland soils across the conterminous United States is estimated to be anthropogenic. We also estimated wetland anthropogenic metal loading to normalize mass by area and compared across different wetland types and features. In most cases, estimated wetland redox state, tidal influence, wetland hydrologic regime, and geographical regions do not substantially impact estimates of anthropogenic metal loading. It is clear, though, that wetlands often contain substantive anthropogenic metals and that monitoring of hydrologic and/or geochemical changes in wetlands is important to discern whether any metals may mobilize and pose a hazard to ecosystems or human health. Environmental Chemistry Metal pollution ecosystem services population survey soil pollution National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files SupplementaryFile1.xlsx Supplementary data files NWCAmetalsSupplementaryInformation.docx Supplementary text, tables, and figures Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Wetlands → Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5926733","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":444578891,"identity":"bfdecdd1-0aee-4c23-abbc-7e967f7e4b80","order_by":0,"name":"Matthew Dietrich","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDCCwyDCgCEBzGFsYGDgJ0ILUB1EC2PDQaAWyQZCWg6AjUbSYnCAgA6+48zHH1cU2OUxiB1+/vjjDpvEzcd7D35g+GWTiMs2ycNsiY1nDJKLGaTTDBsOnklL3HbmXLIEY18aTi0Gh3kMGxsMDiQ2SCcAtbQdzt12I8dAgrHnsDEuhxkc5v8I1ZL+Eajlf+7m+W+Mf+DXwsMI1ZIDsuVA7gYJHjMJhh+H5XBpAfrFcGaDQXJim3RO4Yyzbcn1M87kpVkkNqTh1MJ3/vCDjw1/7BL7pdM3fKhsszPmbz97+MaHPzY8uLTAARuCCVSc2EZQAwoAmf+HNC2jYBSMglEwrAEAEC9lS+PrEoUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4464-5340","institution":"Oak Ridge Associated Universities/The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Matthew","middleName":"","lastName":"Dietrich","suffix":""},{"id":444578892,"identity":"6ac136eb-8640-4cc0-93f8-ea35484ce33f","order_by":1,"name":"Michael Dumelle","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3393-5529","institution":"The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michael","middleName":"","lastName":"Dumelle","suffix":""},{"id":444578893,"identity":"27933dc1-2e1e-47ca-a51f-34dc5cc8c974","order_by":2,"name":"Amanda M. Nahlik","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0591-375X","institution":"The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amanda","middleName":"M.","lastName":"Nahlik","suffix":""},{"id":444578894,"identity":"e6571c1c-974f-4f44-94cb-034915e2013d","order_by":3,"name":"Heather E. Golden","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5501-9444","institution":"The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Heather","middleName":"E.","lastName":"Golden","suffix":""},{"id":444578895,"identity":"926ba2c6-5e6b-4e22-8bfd-629d3b689f7b","order_by":4,"name":"Jay R. Christensen","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4961-6132","institution":"The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jay","middleName":"R.","lastName":"Christensen","suffix":""},{"id":444578896,"identity":"2eeee016-fb78-4795-b9e4-4e8a3c83188a","order_by":5,"name":"Charles R. Lane","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0066-8919","institution":"The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Charles","middleName":"R.","lastName":"Lane","suffix":""},{"id":444578897,"identity":"f8c16c99-0c3c-4978-8c5b-98f0b4d10205","order_by":6,"name":"Eric M. Moore","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2479-2677","institution":"Oak Ridge Associated Universities/The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eric","middleName":"M.","lastName":"Moore","suffix":""},{"id":444578898,"identity":"de08d124-a113-4e2d-b391-242f70b55d1d","order_by":7,"name":"Gabriel M. Filippelli","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3434-5982","institution":"Indiana University Indianapolis","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gabriel","middleName":"M.","lastName":"Filippelli","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-29 21:59:49","currentVersionCode":3,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v3","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v3","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-025-01946-4","type":"published","date":"2025-06-09T00:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":85337279,"identity":"bb216c68-4dcb-4162-922f-0d938cd9ca09","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-24 20:46:23","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1164939,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"GoldenDietrichMainCleanCONUSWetlands3clean.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5926733/v3_covered_fec1f064-4375-4f66-81dc-790ea6174b26.pdf"},{"id":84096759,"identity":"1e130279-5961-4235-a8ac-782a75ceee4a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-06 17:47:01","extension":"xlsx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":65023,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary data files\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryFile1.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5926733/v3/6fbbb90e3d20f480c9e12f20.xlsx"},{"id":84095965,"identity":"ac6a0897-39c4-4885-b49e-7740521f6995","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-06 17:31:01","extension":"docx","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":5276029,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary text, tables, and figures\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"NWCAmetalsSupplementaryInformation.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5926733/v3/9e775b26de31eedfa5dffc55.docx"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Anthropogenic metal storage in wetland soils across the conterminous United States","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"Oak Ridge Associated Universities","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":" Metal pollution, ecosystem services, population survey, soil pollution, National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA)","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v3","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v3","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eWetlands provide many ecosystem services, such as mitigating pollution, attenuating flooding and drought extremes, and providing habitat for many species. However, studies quantifying potential wetland sequestration of heavy metals as an ecosystem service, particularly across large spatial extents, are sparse. We utilized data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s National Wetland Condition Assessment to estimate anthropogenic metal (Pb, Cu, Cr) storage in the upper 40 centimeters of wetland soils across the conterminous United States—never done before at this scale. Large amounts of anthropogenic Cu and Cr are stored in wetland soil across the conterminous United States, at 299.5 ± 73.2 (95% confidence interval) and 483.4 ± 132.1 thousand metric tons (MT), respectively. Anthropogenic Pb totaled 394.3 ± 265.2 thousand MT, which, for context, is roughly equivalent to 7% of lead-based gasoline additives used in the U.S. between 1927-1994. Between 15-22% of Cu, Cr, and Pb mass stored within the upper 40 cm of wetland soils across the conterminous United States is estimated to be anthropogenic. We also estimated wetland anthropogenic metal loading to normalize mass by area and compared across different wetland types and features. In most cases, estimated wetland redox state, tidal influence, wetland hydrologic regime, and geographical regions do not substantially impact estimates of anthropogenic metal loading. It is clear, though, that wetlands often contain substantive anthropogenic metals and that monitoring of hydrologic and/or geochemical changes in wetlands is important to discern whether any metals may mobilize and pose a hazard to ecosystems or human health.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Anthropogenic metal storage in wetland soils across the conterminous United States","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":3,"date":"2025-06-06 17:30:54","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v3","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}},{"code":2,"date":"2025-04-17 20:42:24","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v2","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}},{"code":1,"date":"2025-01-31 18:05:25","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5926733/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3e736099-7bb9-415e-9611-34a69dd8b1ea","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 6th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":47334801,"name":"Environmental Chemistry"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-06-24T20:46:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-5926733","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-025-01946-4","journal":{"identity":"wetlands","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Wetlands"},"publishedOn":"2025-06-09 00:00:00","publishedOnDateReadable":"June 9th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-06 17:30:54","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s13157-025-01946-4","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-025-01946-4","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v3","identity":"rs-5926733","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5926733","identity":"rs-5926733","version":["v3"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}