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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: 3787

Comparison of methods for the removal of organic carbon and extraction of chromium, iron and manganese from an estuarine sediment standard and sediment from the Calcasieu River estuary, Louisiana, U.S.A.

U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) estuarine sediment 1646 from the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, and surface sediment collected at two sites in the Calcasieu River estuary, Louisiana, were used to evaluate the dilute hydrochloric acid extraction of Cr, Fe and Mn from air-dried and freeze-dried samples that had been treated by one of three methods to remove organic carbon. The three methods for t
Authors
N.S. Simon, S.A. Hatcher, C. Demas

Use of geochemical biomarkers in bottom sediment to track oil from a spill, San Francisco Bay, California

In April 1988, approximately 1500 m3 of a San Joaquin Valley crude oil were accidentally released from a Shell Oil Co. refinery near Martinez, Californa. The oil flowed into Carquinez Strait and Suisun Bay in northern San Francisco Bay Sediment and oil samples were collected within a week and analysed for geochemical marker compounds in order to track the molecular signature of the oil spill in th
Authors
F. D. Hostettler, J. B. Rapp, K. A. Kvenvolden

GIS-assisted regression analysis to identify sources of selenium in streams

Using a geographic information system, a regression model has been developed to identify and to assess potential sources of selenium in the Kendrick Reclamation Project Area, Wyoming. A variety of spatially distributed factors was examined to determine which factors are most likely to affect selenium discharge in tributaries to the North Platte River. Areas of Upper Cretaceous Cody Shale and Quate
Authors
Randolph B. See, David L. Naftz, Charles L. Qualls

Dissolution of aragonite-strontianite solid solutions in nonstoichiometric Sr (HCO3)2-Ca (HCO3)2-CO2-H2O solutions

Synthetic strontianite-aragonite solid-solution minerals were dissolved in CO2-saturated non-stoichiometric solutions of Sr(HCO3)2 and Ca(HCO3)2 at 25°C. The results show that none of the dissolution reactions reach thermodynamic equilibrium. Congruent dissolution in Ca(HCO3)2 solutions either attains or closely approaches stoichiometric saturation with respect to the dissolving solid. In Sr(HCO3)
Authors
Niel Plummer, E. Busenberg, P. D. Glynn, A.E. Blum

Importance of methane-oxidizing bacteria in the methane budget as revealed by the use of a specific inhibitor

METHANE is a greenhouse gas whose concentration in the atmosphere is increasing. Much of this methane is derived from the metabolism of methane-generating (methanogenic) bacteria and over the past two decades much has been learned about the ecology of methanogens; specific inhibitors of methanogenesis, such as 2-bromoethanesulphonic acid, have proved useful in this regard. In contrast, although mu
Authors
Ronald S. Oremland, Charles W. Culbertson

Floodplain storage of mine tailings in the Belle Fourche river system: a sediment budget approach

Arsenic‐contaminated mine tailings that were discharged into Whitewood Creek at Lead, South Dakota, from 1876 to 1978, were deposited along the floodplains of Whitewood Creek and the Belle Fourche River. The resulting arsenic‐contaminated floodplain deposit consists mostly of overbank sediments and filled abandoned meanders along White‐wood Creek, and overbank and point‐bar sediments along the Bel
Authors
D. C. Marron

Methanogenic degradation kinetics of phenolic compounds in aquifer-derived microcosms

In this segment of a larger multidisciplinary study of the movement and fate of creosote derived compounds in a sand-and-gravel aquifer, we present evidence that the methanogenic degradation of the major biodegradable phenolic compounds and concomitant microbial growth in batch microcosms derived from contaminated aquifer material can be described using Monod kinetics. Substrate depletion and bact
Authors
E.M. Godsy, D.F. Goerlitz, D. Grbic-Galic

Isolation of hydrophilic organic acids from water using nonionic macroporous resins

A method has been developed for the isolation of hydrophilic organic acids from aquatic environments using Amberlite∗ XAD-4 resin. The method uses a two column array of XAD-8 and XAD-4 resins in series. The hydrophobic organic acids, composed primarily of aquatic fulvic acid, are removed from the sample on XAD-8, followed by the isolation of the more hydrophilic organic acids on XAD-4. For samples
Authors
G. R. Aiken, Diane M. McKnight, K. A. Thorn, E.M. Thurman

Herbicide transport in rivers: Importance of hydrology and geochemistry in nonpoint-source contamination

Alachlor, atrazine, cyanazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin were measured at six sites during 1984 and 1985 in large subbasins within the Cedar River, IA. A computer model separated the Cedar River discharge hydrograph into groundwater and overland-flow components. The concentration of herbicides in the river when groundwater was the major flow component was less than 1.0 μg/L and averaged 0.2 μg/L
Authors
P. J. Squillace, E.M. Thurman

Ground-penetrating radar: A tool for mapping reservoirs and lakes

Ground-penetrating radar was evaluated as a tool for mapping reservoir and lake bottoms and providing stage-storage information. An impulse radar was used on a 1.4-ha (3.5-acre) reservoir with 31 transects located 6.1 m (20 feet) apart. Depth of water and lateral extent of the lake bottom were accurately measured by ground-penetrating radar. A linear (positive) relationship existed between measure
Authors
C.C. Truman, L.E. Asmussen, H.D. Allison

Geochemistry of dissolved inorganic carbon in a Coastal Plain aquifer. 2. Modeling carbon sources, sinks, and δ13C evolution

Stable isotope data for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), carbonate shell material and cements, and microbial CO2 were combined with organic and inorganic chemical data from aquifer and confining-bed pore waters to construct geochemical reaction models along a flowpath in the Black Creek aquifer of South Carolina. Carbon-isotope fractionation between DIC and precipitating cements was treated as a
Authors
Peter B. McMahon, Francis H. Chapelle