Publications
Dive into our publications and explore the science from the Environmental Health Program (Toxic Substances Hydrology and Contaminant Biology).
Filter Total Items: 4094
Cinnamon gulch revisited: Another look at separating natural and mining-impacted contributions to instream metal load
Baseline, premining data for streams draining abandoned mine lands is virtually non existent, and indirect methods for estimating premining conditions are needed to establish realistic, cost effective cleanup goals. One such indirect method is the proximal analog approach, in which premining conditions are estimated using data from nearby mineralized areas that are unaffected by mining. In this pa
Authors
Robert L. Runkel, Philip L. Verplanck, Briant Kimball, Katherine Walton-Day
Acetylenotrophy: A hidden but ubiquitous microbial metabolism?
Acetylene (IUPAC name: ethyne) is a colorless, gaseous hydrocarbon, composed of two triple bonded carbon atoms attached to hydrogens (C2H2). When microbiologists and biogeochemists think of acetylene, they immediately think of its use as an inhibitory compound of certain microbial processes and a tracer for nitrogen fixation. However, what is less widely known is that anaerobic and aerobic microor
Authors
Denise M. Akob, John M. Sutton, Janna L. Fierst, Karl B. Haase, Shaun Baesman, George Luther, Laurence G. Miller, Ronald S. Oremland
Acute toxicity of sodium chloride and potassium chloride to a unionid mussel (Lampsilis siliquoidea) in water exposures
Freshwater mussels (order Unionoida) are one of the most imperiled groups of animals in the world. However, many ambient water quality criteria and other environmental guideline values do not include data for freshwater mussels, in part because mussel toxicity test methods are comparatively new and data may not have been available when criteria and guidelines were derived. The objectives of the pr
Authors
Ning Wang, Chris D. Ivey, Rebecca A. Dorman, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Jeffery Steevens, Edward J. Hammer, Candice R. Bauer, David R. Mount
Bioactive contaminants of emerging concern in National Park waters of the northern Colorado Plateau, USA
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), wastewater indicators (WWIs), and pesticides (herein, Contaminants of Emerging Concern [CECs]) have been documented in surface waters throughout the world and have associated risks to aquatic life. While much research has focused on temperate and urbanized watersheds, less is known about CEC presence in semi-arid landscapes, where water availabil
Authors
Rebecca H Weissinger, Brett R. Blackwell, Kristen Keteles, William A. Battaglin, Paul M. Bradley
Examining natural attenuation and acute toxicity of petroleum-derived dissolved organic matter with optical spectroscopy
Groundwater samples containing petroleum-derived dissolved organic matter (DOMHC) originating from the north oil body within the National Crude Oil Spill Fate and Natural Attenuation Research Site near Bemidji, MN, USA were analyzed by optical spectroscopic techniques (i.e., absorbance and fluorescence) to assess relationships that can be used to examine natural attenuation and toxicity of DOMHC i
Authors
David C. Podgorski, Phoebe Zito, Jennifer McGuire, Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Barbara A. Bekins, Robert G. M. Spencer
Pharmaceutical manufacturing facility discharges can substantially increase the pharmaceutical load to U.S. wastewaters
Discharges from pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities (PMFs) previously have been identified as important sources of pharmaceuticals to the environment. Yet few studies are available to establish the influence of PMFs on the pharmaceutical source contribution to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and waterways at the national scale. Consequently, a national network of 13 WWTPs receiving PMF dis
Authors
Tia-Marie Scott, Patrick J. Phillips, Dana W. Kolpin, Kaitlyn M. Finkelstein, Edward T. Furlong, William T. Foreman, James L. Gray
Relative contributions of microbial and infrastructure heat at a crude oil-contaminated site
Biodegradation of contaminants can increase the temperature in the subsurface due to heat generated from exothermic reactions, making temperature observations a potentially low-cost approach for determining microbial activity. For this technique to gain more widespread acceptance, it is necessary to better understand all the factors affecting the measured temperatures. Biodegradation has been occu
Authors
Ean Warren, Barbara A. Bekins
Modeled de facto reuse and contaminants of emerging concern in drinking water source waters
De facto reuse is the percentage of drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) intake potentially composed of effluent discharged from upstream wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Results from grab samples and a De Facto Reuse in our Nation's Consumable Supply (DRINCS) geospatial watershed model were used to quantify contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) concentrations at DWTP intakes to qualitative
Authors
Thuy Nguyen, Paul Westerhoff, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Angela L. Batt, Heath E. Mash, Kathleen M. Schenck, J. Scott Boone, Jacelyn Rice, Susan T. Glassmeyer
Disentangling the effects of low pH and metal mixture toxicity on macroinvertebrate diversity
One of the primary goals of biological assessment of streams is to identify which of a suite of chemical stressors is limiting their ecological potential. Elevated metal concentrations in streams are often associated with low pH, yet the effects of these two potentially limiting factors of freshwater biodiversity are rarely considered to interact beyond the effects of pH on metal speciation. Using
Authors
Riccardo Fornaroli, Alessio Ippolito, Mari J. Tolkkinen, Heikki Mykrä, Timo Muotka, Laurie S. Balistrieri, Travis S. Schmidt
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Energy Resources Program, Environmental Health Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Colorado Water Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Quantifying differences in responses of aquatic insects to trace metal exposure in field studies and short-term stream mesocosm experiments
Characterizing macroinvertebrate taxa as either sensitive or tolerant is of critical importance for investigating impacts of anthropogenic stressors in aquatic ecosystems and for inferring causality. However, our understanding of relative sensitivity of aquatic insects to metals in the field and under controlled conditions in the laboratory or mesocosm experiments is limited. In this study, we com
Authors
Yuichi Iwasaki, Travis S. Schmidt, William H. Clements
Common hydraulic fracturing fluid additives alter the structure and function of anaerobic microbial communities
The development of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) resources results in the production of large volumes of wastewater containing a complex mixture of hydraulic fracturing chemical additives and components from the formation. The release of these wastewaters into the environment poses potential risks that are poorly understood. Microbial communities in stream sediments form the base of the food ch
Authors
Adam C. Mumford, Denise M. Akob, J. Grace Klinges, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Science Synthesis, Analysis and Research Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Reston Biogeochemical Processes in Groundwater Laboratory, Reston Microbiology Laboratory, Advanced Research Computing (ARC)
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data (October 2015 through September 2016) and statistical summaries of data for streams in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana
Water, bed sediment, and biota were sampled in selected streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the upper Clark Fork Basin of western Montana. The sampling program was led by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to characterize aquatic resources in the Clark Fork Basin, with emphasis on trace elements ass
Authors
Kent A. Dodge, Michelle I. Hornberger, Matthew A. Turner