Toxicity of Nitro-Heterocyclic and Nitroaromatic Energetic Materials to Enchytraeid Worm.Enchytraeus Crypticus in a Natural Sandy Loam Soil

Abstract

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing Ecological Soil Screening Level (Eco-SSL) values for ecological risk assessment of contaminants at Superfind sites. Insufficient information for RDX, HMX, 2,4-DNT, 2,6-DNT, and TNB to generate Eco-SSLs necessitated standardized toxicity testing to fill the data gaps. The Enchytraeid Reproduction Test (ISO/16387:2001) was adapted using Enchytraeus crypticus in these studies. Tests were conducted in Sassafras sandy loam soil, which supports relatively high bioavailability of energetic materials. Weathering/aging procedures for amended soil were incorporated in the study to better reflect the exposure conditions in the field soils. Definitive toxicity tests conducted with both freshly amended and weathered/aged amended soils showed that EM toxicity order based on EC(sub 20) values for juvenile production in tests with E. crypticus was TNB > 2,4-DNT > 2,6-DNT > RDX with EC(sub 20) values of 45, 116, 194, and 585 mg kg(exp -1), respectively. The octahydro-1, 3, 5, 7 - tetranitrol, 3, 5, 7 - tetrazocine (HMX) did not adversely affect adult survival or juvenile production up to 21750 mg kg(exp -1) treatment. These study results will be provided to the Eco-SSL workgroup for review and inclusion in the Eco-SSL database, and for developing Eco-SSLs for RDX, HMX, 2,4-DNT, 2,6-DNT, and TNB.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA426163

Entities

People

  • Carlton T. Phillips
  • Jan E. Kolakowski
  • Michael Simini
  • Roman G Kuperman
  • Ronald T. Checkai

Organizations

  • Edgewood Chemical Biological Center

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Soils
  • Chemical Analysis
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Databases
  • Ecotoxicology
  • Energetic Materials
  • Environmental Pollutants
  • Environmental Protection
  • Explosives
  • Liquid Chromatography
  • Materials
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Range Finding
  • Regression Analysis
  • Risk Analysis
  • Toxicity

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Agricultural Chemistry/Soil Science