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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

Rapid assay for microbially reducible ferric iron in aquatic sediments

The availability of ferric iron for microbial reduction as directly determined by the activity of iron-reducing organisms was compared with its availability as determined by a newly developed chemical assay for microbially reducible iron. The chemical assay was based on the reduction of poorly crystalline ferric iron by hydroxylamine under acidic conditions. There was a strong correlation between
Authors
Derek R. Lovely, Elizabeth J.P. Philips

Big Soda Lake (Nevada). 3. Pelagic methanogenesis and anaerobic methane oxidation

In situ rates of methanogenesis and methane oxidation were measured in meromictic Big Soda Lake. Methane production was measured by the accumulation of methane in the headspaces of anaerobically sealed water samples; radiotracer was used to follow methane oxidation. Nearly all the methane oxidation occurred in the anoxic zones of the lake. Rates of anaerobic oxidation exceeded production at all de
Authors
Niels Iversen, Ronald S. Oremland, Michael J. Klug

Big Soda Lake (Nevada). 4. Vertical fluxes of particulate matter: Seasonality and variations across the chemocline

Vertical fluxes of particulate organic matter were measured with sediment traps above and below the chemocline of Big Soda Lake to define the seasonality of sinking losses from the mixolimnion and determine the effectiveness of the chemocline (pycnocline) as a barrier to the sinking of biogenic particles. Seasonality of sedimentation rates reflected seasonal changes in the community of autotrophs.
Authors
James E. Cloern, Brian E. Cole, Sally M. Wienke

Big Soda Lake (Nevada). 2. Pelagic sulfate reduction

The epilimnion of hypersaline, alkaline, meromictic Big Soda Lake contains an average 58 mmol sulfate liter−1 and 0.4 µmol dissolved iron liter−1. The monimolimnion, which is permanently anoxic, has a sulfide concentration ranging seasonally from 4 to 7 mmol liter−1. Depth profiles of sulfate reduction in the monimolimnion, assayed with a 35S tracer technique and in situ incubations, demonstrated
Authors
Richard L. Smith, Ronald S. Oremland

A wireline piston core barrel for sampling cohesionless sand and gravel below the water table

A coring device has been developed to obtain long and minimally disturbed samples of saturated cohesionless sand and gravel. The coring device, which includes a wireline and piston, was developed specifically for use during hollow-stem auger drilling but it also offers possibilities for cable tool and rotary drilling. The core barrel consists of an inner liner made of inexpensive aluminum or plast
Authors
Michael M. Zapico, Samuel Vales, John A. Cherry

Synthesis and stability of hetaerolite, ZnMn2O4, at 25°C

A precipitate of nearly pure hetaerolite, ZnMn2O4, a spinel-structured analog of hausmannite, Mn3O4, was prepared by an irreversible wprecipitation of zinc with manganese at 25°C. The synthesis technique entailed constant slow addition of a dilute solution of Mn2+ and Zn2+ chlorides having a Mn/Zn ratio of 2:1 to a reaction vessel that initially contained distilled deionized water, maintained at a
Authors
J. D. Hem, C. E. Roberson, C.J. Lind

Aqueous pyrite oxidation by dissolved oxygen and by ferric iron

Rates of aqueous, abiotic pyrite oxidation were measured in oxygen-saturated and anaerobic Fe(III)-saturated solutions with initial pH from 2 to 9. These studies included analyses of sulfite, thiosulfate, polythionates and sulfate and procedures for cleaning oxidation products from pyrite surfaces were evaluated. Pyrite oxidation in oxygen-saturated solutions produced (1) rates that were only slig
Authors
Carl O. Moses, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Janet S. Herman, Aaron L. Mills

Increased solubility of quartz in water due to complexing by organic compounds

Quartz is the most stable natural solid phase of silica. It weathers extremely slowly at the Earth's surface1, and often resists weathering even after all other silicate minerals have been degraded. However, there is ample evidence from both ancient and modern environments indicating enhanced dissolution and mobility of silica under conditions that cannot easily be explained by the inorganic contr
Authors
P. Bennett, D. I. Siegel

Monodisperse ferrous phosphate colloids in an anoxic groundwater plume

Groundwater samples collected near a secondary-sewage infiltration site on Cape Cod, Massachusetts were examined for colloidal materials (10–1000 nm). In two wells the water contained a population of monodisperse 100-nm particles, detected using laser-light scattering and autocorrelation data processing. SEM and SEM-EDAX analysis of these colloidal materials collected on ultrafilters confirmed the
Authors
Philip M. Gschwend, Matthew D. Reynolds

Fitting straight lines in the earth sciences

No abstract available. 
Authors
B.M. Troutman, G. P. Williams