Service Description: The main concern for the site is the effect of mercury contamination introduced during the mining operations on targets such as fisheries, aquatic foul and recreational users of the Carson River (“River”) watershed. The CRMS consists of mining wastes and releases from approximately 236 abandoned gold and silver mines from three basic source areas: the proximal most location on the River starting at New Empire (Morgan Mill), Virginia City.
The purpose of this dataset is to evaluate and analyze the volumes of soil, sediment, surface water and biota data collected over three decades (i.e., mid-1980s through 2015) to complete the remedial investigation (RI) at the Operable Unit (OU) No. 2 of the Carson River Site. To justify the remedy selection process to eliminate, reduce, or control risks to human health and the environment. Specifically, the RI involves the investigation and study of the spatial distribution, nature and extent of the heavy metals Mercury, Arsenic, and Lead in the Carson River drainages stemming from contaminant migration from the Carson River Mercury Site sources (i.e., Operable Unit No. 1) and evaluate past and current releases and their impact to human health and the environment.
Service ItemId: f8fe703b4ecb47f2a7bcd0b4557d797e
Has Versioned Data: false
Max Record Count: 2000
Supported query Formats: JSON
Supports applyEdits with GlobalIds: False
Supports Shared Templates: False
All Layers and Tables
Layers:
Description: EPA has collected soil, sediment, surface water and biota data to complete the remedial investigation (RI) at the Operable Unit (OU) No. 2 of the Carson River Mercury Superfund Site (CRMS). The goal of the study is to select a remedy that eliminates, reduces, or controls risks from site-related compounds of concern to human health and the environment. Specifically, the RI involves the investigation and study of the heavy metals contamination and the associated tributaries into the Carson River watershed resulting from site-related contaminant migration and to evaluate past and current releases and their impact to human health and the environment.
The Site includes mercury-contaminated soils at former mill sites, mercury contamination in waterways adjacent to the mill sites, and mercury contamination in sediments and banks fish and wildlife over more than a 80 mile length of the River, beginning near Carson City, Nevada and extending downstream to the Lahontan Valley and ultimately at its terminus at the USFWS Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge. Contamination at the Site is a legacy of the Comstock mining era of the late 1860s, when mercury was imported to the area for processing of gold and silver ore. Ore mined from the Comstock Lode was transported to the mill sites, where it was crushed and mixed with mercury to amalgamate the precious metals (Washoe Process). The mills were primarily located in Virginia City, Silver City, Gold Hill, Dayton, Six Mile Canyon, Gold Canyon, and adjacent to the Carson River between New Empire and Dayton. During the mining era, an estimated 7,500 tons of mercury were discharged into the River drainage, primarily in the form of mercury-contaminated tailings.
Metadata
Copyright Text: U.S. EPA, USFWS, USGS
Spatial Reference: 102100 (3857)
Initial Extent:
XMin: -13365833.5785713
YMin: 4717637.51870577
XMax: -13159564.3895569
YMax: 4873099.72621092
Spatial Reference: 102100 (3857)
Full Extent:
XMin: -13349726.3479149
YMin: 4730802.87212855
XMax: -13166928.2242572
YMax: 4859740.83435133
Spatial Reference: 102100 (3857)
Units: esriMeters
Child Resources:
Info
Supported Operations:
Query
ConvertFormat
Get Estimates
Create Replica