Zinc and copper content of stream sediment in South-Central Missouri

Thirty samples of stream sediment from the North Fork River, Bryant Creek and related tributaries in south-central Missouri have been analyzed for cold-extractable copper, cold-extractable heavy metal, total copper and total zinc. Cold-extractable copper varies from 0 to 10 ppm and averages less than 1 ppm; cold-extractable heavy metal varies from 3 to 30 ppm and averages 12 ppm; total copper varies from 50 to 200 ppm and averages 88 ppm; total zinc varies from 20 to 300 ppm and averages 86 ppm. The pH of the stream water appears to have no affect on the metal content of the sediments. The zinc and copper probably occur in the lattices of the iron oxides and clay minerals and adsorbed onto these and other minerals. The ratio of the cold-extractable metal to total metal indicates a syngenetic pattern for copper and an epigenetic pattern for zinc --Abstract, page i