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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: 3740

Geochemistry of the processes that attenuate acid mine drainage in wetlands

Because conventional treatment of acid-mine drainage (AMD) involves installation and maintenance of water treatment plants, regulators and mine operators have sought lower cost and lower maintenance technologies. One ecological engineering technology that has received increasing research attention is the use of natural and constructed wetlands for remediation of some of the water-quality problems
Authors
Katherine Walton-Day

Geochemical modeling of water-rock interactions in mining environments

Geochemical modeling is a powerful tool for evaluating geochemical processes in mining environments. Properly constrained and judiciously applied, modeling can provide valuable insights into processes controlling the release, transport, and fate of contaminants in mine drainage. This chapter contains 1) an overview of geochemical modeling, 2) discussion of the types of models and computer programs
Authors
Charles N. Alpers, D. Kirk Nordstrom

Mass balance approach to selenium cycling through the San Joaquin Valley, sources to river to bay

Surface and ground waters of the Central Valley of California (e.g., rivers, dams, off-stream storage reservoirs, pumping facilities, irrigation and drinking water supply canals, agricultural drainage canals) are part of a hydrologic system that makes up a complex ecosystem extending from the riparian wetlands of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers through the San Francisco Bay/Delta Estuary to
Authors
Theresa S. Presser, David Z. Piper

Seasonal variation in metal concentrations in a stream affected by acid mine drainage, St. Kevin Gulch, Colorado

Mining of mineral deposits in the Rocky Mountains has left a legacy of acidic inflows to otherwise pristine upland watersheds. Since 1986, the U.S. Geological Survey has studied physical, chemical, and biological processes that affect the transport and transformation of metals in St. Kevin Gulch, an acidic, metal-rich stream near Leadville, Colorado. Well-known chemical processes have been quantif
Authors
B. A. Kimball

Occurrence of selected herbicides and herbicide degradation products in Iowa's Ground Water, 1995

Herbicide compounds were prevalent in ground water across Iowa, being detected in 70% of the 106 municipal wells sampled during the summer of 1995. Herbicide degradation products were three of the four most frequently detected compounds for this study. The degradation product alachlor ethanesulfonic acid was the most frequently detected compound (65.1%), followed by atrazine (40.6%), and the degra
Authors
D.W. Kolpin, S. J. Kalkhoff, D. A. Goolsby, D. A. Sneck-Fahrer, E. M. Thurman

Modeling structural influences on soil water retention

A new model quantities the effect of soil structure, considered as the arrangement of particles in the soil, on soil water retention. The model partitions the pore space into texture-related and structure-related components, the textural component being what can be deduced to exist if the arrangement of the particles were random, and the structural component being the remainder. An existing model,
Authors
J. R. Nimmo

Herbicides and their metabolites in rainfall: Origin, transport, and deposition patterns across the midwestern and northeastern United States, 1990-1991

Herbicides were detected in rainfall throughout the midwestern and northeastern United States during late spring and summer of 1990 and 1991. Herbicide concentrations exhibited distinct geographic and seasonal patterns. The highest concentrations occurred in midwestern cornbelt states following herbicide application to cropland. Volume-weighted concentrations of 0.2−0.4 μg/L for atrazine and alach
Authors
D. A. Goolsby, E. M. Thurman, M.L. Pomes, M. T. Meyer, W.A. Battaglin

From the 1988 drought to the 1993 flood: Transport of halogenated organic compounds with the Mississippi river suspended sediment at Thebes, Illinois

Suspended sediment was isolated from water samples collected from the Mississippi River at Thebes, IL, eight times over a 5-year period from May 1988 through September 1993 in order to evaluate the transport of lipophilic halogenated organic compounds associated with the suspended sediment. Two hydrologic extremes were included-the 1988 drought and the 1993 flood. Halogenated organic compounds inc
Authors
C.E. Rostad

Experimental design for estimating parameters of rate-limited mass transfer: Analysis of stream tracer studies

Tracer experiments are valuable tools for analyzing the transport characteristics of streams and their interactions with shallow groundwater. The focus of this work is the design of tracer studies in high-gradient stream systems subject to advection, dispersion, groundwater inflow, and exchange between the active channel and zones in surface or subsurface water where flow is stagnant or slow movin
Authors
Brian J. Wagner, Judson W. Harvey