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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: 4094

Studies of the Reactivity of the Ferrihydrite Surface by Iron Isotopic Exchange and Mössbauer Spectroscopy

Two-line ferrihydrite is an important adsorbent of many toxics in natural and anthropogenic systems; however, the specific structural sites responsible for the high adsorption capacity are not well understood. A combination of chemical and spectroscopic techniques have been employed in this study to gain further insight into the structural nature of sites at the ferrihydrite surface. The kinetics
Authors
Brigid A. Rea, James A. Davis, Glenn A. Waychunas

Bioaccumulation of selenium from natural geologic sources in western states and its potential consequences

Ecological impacts of water-quality problems have developed in the western United States resulting from the disposal of seleniferous agricultural wastewater in wetland areas. Overt effects of selenium toxicosis occurred at five areas where deformities of wild aquatic birds were similar to those first observed at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in the west-central San Joaquin Valley of Californi
Authors
T. S. Presser, M. A. Sylvester, W. H. Low

Welded tuff porosity characterization using mercury intrusion, nitrogen and ethylene glycol monoethyl ether sorption and epifluorescence microscopy

Porosity of welded tuff from Snowshoe Mountain, Colorado, was characterized by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), nitrogen sorption porosimetry, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGME) gas phase sorption and epifluorescence optical microscopy. Crushed tuff of two particle-size fractions (1-0.3 mm and less than 0.212 mm), sawed sections of whole rock and crushed tuff that had been reacted with 0.1
Authors
M.M. Reddy, H. C. Claassen, D.W. Rutherford, C. T. Chiou

Displacement of soil pore water by trichloroethylene

Dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLS) are important pollutants because of their widespread use as chemical and industrial solvents. An example of the pollution caused by the discharge of DNAPLs is found at the Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, where trichloroethylene (TCE) has been discharged directly into the unsaturated zone. This discharge has resulted in the formation of a plume of TCE-contamin
Authors
R. L. Wershaw, G. R. Aiken, T.E. Imbrigiotta, M. C. Goldberg

Protists from a sewage‐contaminated aquifer on cape cod, Massachusetts

Several species of flagellates (genera Bodo, Cercomonas, Cryptaulax, Cyathomonas, Goniomonas, Spumella) have been identified in cultures from a plume of organic contamination (treated sewage effluent) within an aquifer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Amoebae and numerous unidentifiable 2‐ to 3‐μm flagellates have also been observed. As a rule, flagellates were associated with solid surfaces, or were c
Authors
Gianfranco Novarino, Alan Warren, Nancy E. Kinner, Ronald W. Harvey

Local energy flux estimates for unstable conditions using variance data in semiarid rangelands

A network of meteorological stations was installed during the Monsoon '90 field campaign in the Walnut Gulch experimental watershed. The study area has a fairly complex surface. The vegetation cover is heterogeneous and sparse, and the terrain is mildly hilly, but dissected by ephemeral channels. Besides measurement of some of the standard weather data such as wind speed, air temperature, and sola
Authors
William P. Kustas, J.H. Blanford, D.I. Stannard, C.S.T. Daughtry, W.D. Nichols, M.A. Weltz

The geochemical evolution of low-molecular-weight organic acids derived from the degradation of petroleum contaminants in groundwater

The geochemical evolution of low-molecular-weight organic acids in groundwater downgradient from a crude-oil spill near Bemidji, Minnesota, was studied over a five year period (1986–1990). The organic acids are metabolic intermediates of the degradation of components of the crude oil and are structurally related to hydrocarbon precursors. The concentrations of organic acids, particularly aliphatic
Authors
I.M. Cozzarelli, M.J. Baedecker, R.P. Eganhouse, D.F. Goerlitz

Reduction of nonpoint source contamination of surface water and groundwater by starch encapsulation of herbicides

The loss of the preemergent herbicide atrazine in surface runoff from experimental field plots growing corn (Zea mays L.) was significantly reduced using a starchencapsulated formulation versus a conventional powdered formulation. Field edge losses of starch-encapsulated atrazine were described as following a Rayleigh distribution totaling 1.8% of applied herbicide compared to exponential powdered
Authors
M. S. Mills, E.M. Thurman

Formation and transport of deethylatrazine and deisopropylatrazine in surface water

No abstract available. 
Authors
E.M. Thurman, M. T. Meyer, M. S. Mills, L.R. Zimmerman, C. A. Perry, D. A. Goolsby

Batch experiments characterizing the reduction of chromium(VI) using suboxic material from a mildly reducing sand and gravel aquifer

Batch experiments were conducted with sand collected from a shallow sand and gravel aquifer to identify the principal chemical reactions influencing the reduction of Cr(VI), so that field-observed Cr(V1) reduction could be described. The reduction appeared to be heterogeneous and occurred primarily on Fe(I1)-bearing minerals. At only 1 wt % , the fine fraction (<64 μm diameter) of the sediments do
Authors
Linda Davis Anderson, Douglas B. Kent, James A. Davis

Chlorofluorocarbons (CCl3F and CCl2F2) as dating tools and hydrologic tracers in shallow groundwater of the Delmarva Peninsula, Atlantic Coastal Plain, United States

Concentrations of the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) CFC-11 and CFC-12 were determined in groundwater from coastal plain sediments of the Delmarva Peninsula. CFC-modeled ages were calculated independently for CFC-11 and CFC-12, and agreed to within 2–3 years in the majority of the waters. Recharge temperatures, determined from dissolved nitrogen and argon concentrations, varied from 9±2°C over most of
Authors
S.A. Dunkle, Niel Plummer, E. Busenberg, P. J. Phillips, J. M. Denver, P. A. Hamilton, R. L. Michel, T. B. Coplen