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Publications

Dive into our publications and explore the science from the Environmental Health Program (Toxic Substances Hydrology and Contaminant Biology).

Filter Total Items: 4047

Identification of persistent anionic surfactant-derived chemicals in sewage effluent and groundwater

Preparative isolation and fractionation procedures coupled with spectrometric analyses were used to identify surfactant-derived contaminants in sewage effluent and sewage-contaminated groundwater from a site located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Anionic surfactants and their biodegradation intermediates were isolated from field samples by ion exchange and fractionated by solvent extraction and adsor
Authors
Jennifer A. Field, Jerry A. Leenheer, Kevin A. Thorn, Larry B. Barber, Colleen Rostad, Donald L. Macalady, Stephen R. Daniel

Associations of free-living bacteria and dissolved organic compounds in a plume of contaminated groundwater

Associations of free-living bacteria (FLB) and dissolved organic contaminants in a 4-km-long plume of sewage-contaminated groundwater were investigated. Abundance of FLB in the core of the plume (as delineated by maximum specific conductance) steadily decreased in the direction of flow from a point 0.25 km downgradient from the source to the toe of the plume. At 0.25 km downgradient, FLB comprised
Authors
Ronald W. Harvey, Larry B. Barber

Bioaccumulation of hydrocarbons derived from terrestrial and anthropogenic sources in the Asian clam, Potamocorbula amurensis, in San Francisco Bay estuary

An assessment was made in Suisun Bay, California, of the distributions of hydrocarbons in estuarine bed and suspended sediments and in the recently introduced asian clam, Potamocorbula amurensis. Sediments and clams were contaminated with hydrocarbons derived from petrogenic and pyrogenic sources. Distributions of alkanes and of hopane and sterane biomarkers in sediments and clams were similar, in
Authors
Wilfred E. Pereira, Frances D. Hostettler, John B. Rapp

Hydrologic research at the Princeton, Minnesota management systems evaluation area

The Management Systems Evaluation Area (MSEA) program is part of a multi-scale, inter-agency initiative to evaluate the effects of agricultural management systems on water quality. The program resulted from the integration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Research Plan for Water Quality and the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) Mid-Continent Herbicide Initiative and is part of the President
Authors
G. N. Delin, M.K. Landon, J. L. Anderson, R.H. Dowdy

Effects of low-level radioactive-waste disposal on water chemistry in the unsaturated zone at a site near Sheffield, Illinois, 1982-84

A 1982-84 field study defined the chemistry of water collected from the unsaturated zone at a low-level radioactive-waste disposal site near Sheffield, Bureau County, Ill. Chemical data were evaluated to determine the principal, naturally occurring geochemical reactions in the unsaturated zone and to evaluate waste-induced effects on pore-water chemistry. Samples of precipitation, unsaturated-
Authors
C.A. Peters, Robert G. Striegl, P. C. Mills, R. W. Healy

Assessment of hydrogeologic conditions with emphasis on water quality and wastewater injection, southwest Sarasota and West Charlotte counties, Florida

The 250-square-mile area of southwest Sarasota and west Charlotte Counties is underlain by a complex hydrogeologic system having diverse ground-water quality. The surficial and intermediate aquifer systems and the Upper Floridan aquifer of the Floridan aquifer system contain six separate aquifers, or permeable zones, and have a total thickness of about 2,000 feet. Water in the clastic surficial aq
Authors
C. B. Hutchinson

Chemical, crystallographic and stable isotopic properties of alunite and jarosite from acid-Hypersaline Australian lakes

Chemical, crystallographic and isotopic analyses were made on samples containing alunite and jarosite from the sediments of four acid, hypersaline lakes in southeastern and southwestern Australia. The alunite and jarosite are K-rich with relatively low Na contents based on chemical analysis and determination of unit cell dimensions by powder X-ray diffraction. Correcting the chemical analyses of f
Authors
Charles N. Alpers, R. O. Rye, D. Kirk Nordstrom, L. D. White, B.-S. King

Geochemical effects of deep-well injection of the Paradox Valley brine into Paleozoic carbonate rocks, Colorado, U.S.A.

Brine seepage into the Dolores River from ground water in Paradox Valley, Colorado constitutes a major source of salt to the Colorado River. Plants are enderway to remove this source of salt by drawing down the Paradox Valley brine (PVB) and forcibly injecting it into a deep disposal well (4.8 km). Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of deep-well injection of PVB. The results show
Authors
R.J. Rosenbauer, J. L. Bischoff, Y.K. Kharaka

Analytical interferences of mercuric chloride preservative in environmental water samples: Determination of organic compounds isolated by continuous liquid-liquid extraction or closed-loop stripping

Analytical interferences were observed during the determination of organic compounds in groundwater samples preserved with mercuric chloride. The nature of the interference was different depending on the analytical isolation technique employed. (1) Water samples extracted with dichloromethane by continuous liquid-liquid extraction (CLLE) and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry reveale
Authors
W.T. Foreman, S.D. Zaugg, L.M. Falres, M.G. Werner, T.J. Leiker, P.F. Rogerson

Methanogenic biodegradation of creosote contaminants in natural and simulated ground-water ecosystems

Wastes from a wood preserving plant in Pensacola, Florida have contaminated the near‐surface sand‐and‐gravel aquifer with creosote‐derived compounds and pentachlorophenol. Contamination resulted from the discharge of plant waste waters to and subsequent seepage from unlined surface impoundments that were in direct hydraulic contact with the ground water. Two distinct phases resulted when the creos
Authors
E. Michael Godsy, Donald Goerlitz, Dunja Grbic-Galic