Publications
Dive into our publications and explore the science from the Environmental Health Program (Toxic Substances Hydrology and Contaminant Biology).
Filter Total Items: 4094
Performance assessments of a novel well design for reducing exposure to bedrock‐derived arsenic
Arsenic in groundwater is a serious problem in New England, particularly for domestic well owners drawing water from bedrock aquifers. The overlying glacial aquifer generally has waters with low arsenic concentrations but is less used because of frequent loss of well water during dry periods and the vulnerability to surface‐sourced bacterial contamination. An alternative, novel design for shallow
Authors
Richard B. Winston, Joseph D. Ayotte
Toxicity assessment of groundwater contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons at a well-characterized, aged, crude oil release site
Management of petroleum-impacted waters by monitored natural attenuation requires an understanding of the toxicology of both the original compounds released and the transformation products formed during natural breakdown. Here, we report data from a groundwater plume consisting of a mixture of crude oil compounds and transformation products in an effort to bridge the gap between groundwater qualit
Authors
Jennifer T. McGuire, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Barbara A. Bekins, Hannah Link, Dalma Martinović-Weigelt
Geochemical conditions and nitrogen transport in nearshore groundwater and the subterranean estuary at a Cape Cod embayment, East Falmouth, Massachusetts, 2013–14
Nitrogen transport and transformation were studied during 2013 to 2014 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in a subterranean estuary beneath onshore locations on the Seacoast Shores peninsula, a residential area in Falmouth, Massachusetts, served by septic systems and cesspools, and adjacent offshore locations in the Eel River, a saltwater e
Authors
John A. Colman, Denis R. LeBlanc, John K. Böhlke, Timothy D. McCobb, Kevin D. Kroeger, Marcel Belaval, Thomas C. Cambareri, Gillian F. Pirolli, T. Wallace Brooks, Mary E. Garren, Tobias B. Stover, Ann Keeley
Weathering of oil in a surficial aquifer
The composition of crude oil in a surficial aquifer was determined in two locations at the Bemidji, MN, spill site. The abundances of 71 individual hydrocarbons varied within 16 locations sampled. Little depletion of these hydrocarbons (relative to the pipeline oil) occurred in the first 10 years after the spill, whereas losses of 25% to 85% of the total measured hydrocarbons occurred after 30 yea
Authors
Mary Jo Baedecker, Robert P. Eganhouse, Haiping Qi, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Jared J. Trost, Barbara A. Bekins
Microbial community composition of a hydrocarbon reservoir 40 years after a CO2 enhanced oil recovery flood
Injecting CO2 into depleted oil reservoirs to extract additional crude oil is a common enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) technique. However, little is known about how in situ microbial communities may be impacted by CO2 flooding, or if any permanent microbiological changes occur after flooding has ceased. Formation water was collected from an oil field that was flooded for CO2-EOR in the 1980s, incl
Authors
Jenna L. Shelton, Robert S. Andrews, Denise M. Akob, Christina A. DeVera, Adam C. Mumford, John E. McCray, Jennifer C. McIntosh
A direct-push freezing core barrel for sampling unconsolidated subsurface sediments and adjacent pore fluids
Contaminants passing through the unsaturated zone can undergo changes in narrow reaction zones upon reaching saturated sediments. Understanding these reactions requires sampling of sediment together with adjacent water and microbes in a manner that preserves in situ redox conditions. Use of a basket-type core catcher for saturated, noncohesive sediments results in redistribution or loss of fluids
Authors
Jared J. Trost, Thomas M. Christy, Barbara A. Bekins
When oil and water mix: Understanding the environmental impacts of shale development
Development of shale gas and tight oil, or unconventional oil and gas (UOG), has dramatically increased domestic energy production in the U.S. UOG resources are typically developed through the use of hydraulic fracturing, which creates high-permeability flow paths into large volumes of tight rocks to provide a means for hydrocarbons to move to a wellbore. This process uses significant volumes of w
Authors
Daniel J. Soeder, Douglas B. Kent
Potential toxicity of dissolved metal mixtures (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) to early life stage white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Upper Columbia River, Washington, United States
The Upper Columbia River (UCR) received historical releases of smelter waste resulting in elevated metal concentrations in downstream sediments. Newly hatched white sturgeon hide within the rocky substrate at the sediment–water interface in the UCR for a few weeks before swim-up. Hiding behavior could expose them to metal contaminants, and metal toxicity could contribute to population declines in
Authors
Laurie S. Balistrieri, Christopher A. Mebane, Stephen E. Cox, Holly J. Puglis, Robin Calfee, Ning Wang
Evaluating long-term patterns of decreasing groundwater discharge through a lake-bottom permeable reactive barrier
Identifying and quantifying groundwater exchange is critical when considering contaminant fate and transport at the groundwater/surface-water interface. In this paper, areally distributed temperature and point seepage measurements are used to efficiently assess spatial and temporal groundwater discharge patterns through a glacial-kettle lakebed area containing a zero-valent iron permeable reactive
Authors
Timothy D. McCobb, Martin A. Briggs, Denis R. LeBlanc, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Carole D. Johnson
White-nose syndrome: cutaneous invasive ascomycosis in hibernating bats
No abstract available.
Authors
Carol Meteyer, Michelle Verant
Temporal and spatial variation in pharmaceutical concentrations in an urban river system
Many studies have quantified pharmaceuticals in the environment, few however, have incorporated detailed temporal and spatial variability due to associated costs in terms of time and materials. Here, we target 33 physico-chemically diverse pharmaceuticals in a spatiotemporal exposure study into the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the wastewater system and the Rivers Ouse and Foss (two diverse riv
Authors
Emily E. Burns, Laura J. Carter, Dana W. Kolpin, Jane Thomas-Oates, Alistair B.A. Boxall
Pharmaceuticals, hormones, pesticides, and other bioactive contaminants in water, sediment, and tissue from Rocky Mountain National Park, 2012–2013
Pharmaceuticals, hormones, pesticides, and other bioactive contaminants (BCs) are commonly detected in surface water and bed sediment in urban and suburban areas, but these contaminants are understudied in remote locations. In Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado, USA, BCs may threaten the reproductive success and survival of native aquatic species, benthic communities, and pelagic food w
Authors
William A. Battaglin, Paul M. Bradley, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Celeste A. Journey, Heather L. Walsh, Vicki S. Blazer