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

Filter Total Items: 3746

Simultaneous determination of Ca, Cu, Ni, Zn and Cd binding strengths with fulvic acid fractions by Schubert's method

The equilibrium binding of Ca2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ with unfractionated Suwannee river fulvic acid (SRFA) and an enhanced metal binding subfraction of SRFA was measured using Schubert’s ion-exchange method at pH 6.0 and at an ionic strength (μ) of 0.1 (NaNO3). The fractionation and subfractionation were directed towards obtaining an isolate with an elevated metal binding capacity or binding
Authors
G.K. Brown, P. MacCarthy, J. A. Leenheer

Denitrification in marine shales in northeastern Colorado

Parts of the South Platte River alluvial aquifer in northeastern Colorado are underlain by the Pierre Shale, a marine deposit of Late Cretaceous age that is <1000 m thick. Ground water in the aquifer is contaminated with NO3‐, and the shale contains abundant potential electron donors for denitrification in the forms of organic carbon and sulfide minerals. Nested piezometers were sampled, pore wate
Authors
Peter B. McMahon, J.K. Böhlke, Breton W. Bruce

DBP formation of aquatic humic substances

Terrestrial vegetation commonly shed into reservoirs contains chemical precursors of DBPs.Aquatic humic substances (AHSs) in water generate potentially harmful disinfection by‐products (DBPs) such as haloacetic acids (HAAs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) during chlorination. AHSs from two Arkansas reservoirs were characterized to define source, identify meta‐dihydroxybenzene (m‐DHB) structures as prob
Authors
M.L. Pomes, W. R. Green, E.M. Thurman, W. H. Orem, H.E. Lerch

Hydroxyatrazine in soils and sediments

Hydroxyatrazine (HA) is the major metabolite of atrazine in most surface soils. Knowledge of HA sorption to soils, and its pattern of stream water contamination suggest that it is persistent in the environment. Soils with different atrazine use histories were collected from four sites, and sediments were collected from an agricultural watershed. Samples were exhaustively extracted with a mixed—mod
Authors
R.N. Lerch, E.M. Thurman, P.E. Blanchard

Metolachlor and alachlor breakdown product formation patterns in aquatic field mesocosms

The transformation of metolachlor [2-chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl)acetamide] and alachlor [2-chloro-N-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N-(methoxymethyl)acetamide] in aquatic systems was investigated using outdoor tank mesocosms. Metolachlor and alachlor levels and their ethane sulfonic acid (ESA) and oxanillic acid breakdown products were monitored over time under five experimen
Authors
William H. Graham, D.W. Graham, Frank DeNoyelles, Val H. Smith, C.K. Larive, E.M. Thurman

Metolachlor and its metabolites in tile drain and stream runoff in the canajoharie creek watershed

Water samples collected during April−November 1997 from tile drains beneath cultivated fields in central New York indicate that two metabolites of the herbicide metolachlormetolachlor ESA (ethanesulfonic acid) and OA (oxanilic acid)can persist in agricultural soils for 4 or more years after application and that fine-grained soils favor the transport of metolachlor ESA over metolachlor and metolach
Authors
P. J. Phillips, G. R. Wall, E.M. Thurman, D. A. Eckhardt, J. Vanhoesen

In-situ alteration of minerals by acidic ground water resulting from mining activities: Preliminary evaluation of method

The chemical composition of the Cu-mining-related acidic ground water (pH ∼ 3.5 to near neutral) in Pinal Creek Basin, Arizona has been monitored since 1980. In-situ experiments are planned using alluvial sediments placed in the ground-water flow path to measure changes in mineral and chemical composition and changes in dissolution rates of subsurface alluvial sediments. The test results should he
Authors
Carol J. Lind, C. L. Creasey, Cory E. Angeroth

Ground-water age and atmospheric tracers: Simulation studies and analysis of field data from the Mirror Lake site, New Hampshire

The use of environmental tracers in characterization of ground-water systems is investigated through mathematical modeling of ground-water age and atmospheric tracer transport, and by a field study at the Mirror Lake site, New Hampshire. Theory is presented for modeling ground-water age using the advective-dispersive transport equation. The transport equation includes a zero-order source of unit s
Authors
Daniel J. Goode

Analytical results for forty-two fluvial tailings cores and seven stream sediment samples from High Ore Creek, northern Jefferson County, Montana

Metal-mining related wastes in the Boulder River basin study area in northern Jefferson County, Montana have been implicated in their detrimental effects on water quality with regard to acid-generation and toxic-metal solubility. Sediments, fluvial tailings and water from High Ore Creek have been identified as significant contributors to water quality degradation of the Boulder River below Basin,
Authors
David L. Fey, Stan E. Church

Design for a packer/vacuum slug test system for estimating hydraulic conductivity in wells with LNAPLs, casing leaks, or water tables intersecting the screens

“Results indicate that the packer/vacuum system is an adequate method for obtaining values of hydraulic conductivity.”
Authors
Michael L. Strobel, Carissa J. Strobel, Geoffrey N. Delin

Fate of MTBE relative to benzene in a gasoline-contaminated aquifer (1993-98):

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and benzene have been measured since 1993 in a shallow, sandy aquifer contaminated by a mid-1980s release of gasoline containing fuel oxygenates. In wells downgradient of the release area, MTBK was detected before benzene, reflecting a chromatographic-like separation of these compounds in the direction of ground water flow. Higher concentrations of MTBE and benzene w
Authors
James Landmeyer, Francis H. Chapelle, Paul M. Bradley, James F. Pankow, Clinton D. Church, Paul G. Tratnyek

Critical evaluation and selection of standard state thermodynamic properties for chromium metal and its aqueous ions, hydrolysis species, oxides, and hydroxides

This review critically evaluates the reported thermodynamic data on chromium metal, oxides, hydroxides, free aqueous ions, and hydrolysis species. Several discrepancies and inconsistencies have been uncovered and resolved to improve equilibrium calculations for chemical modeling and related engineering purposes. A revised set of data is derived from evaluation of electrochemical measurements, silv
Authors
James W. Ball, D. Kirk Nordstrom