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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

Ground-water-quality assessment of the Central Oklahoma Aquifer, Oklahoma: Geochemical and geohydrologic investigations

The National Water-Quality Assessment pilot project for the Central Oklahoma aquifer examined the chemical and isotopic composition of ground water, the abundances and textures of minerals in core samples, and water levels and hydraulic properties in the flow system to identify geochemical reactions occurring in the aquifer and rates and directions of ground-water flow. The aquifer underlies 3,000
Authors
David L. Parkhurst, Scott C. Christenson, George N. Breit

Spring climate and salinity in the San Francisco Bay Estuary

Salinity in the San Francisco Bay Estuary almost always experiences its yearly maximum during late summer, but climate variability produces marked interannual variations. The atmospheric circulation pattern impacts the estuary primarily through variations of runoff from rainfall and snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada and, secondarily, through variations in the near-surface salinity in the coastal oce
Authors
Daniel R. Cayan, David H. Peterson

Occurrence and transport of agricultural chemicals in the Mississippi River basin, July through August 1993

Heavy rainfall and severe flooding in the upper Mississippi River Basin from mid-June through early August 1993 flushed extraordinarily large amounts of agricultural chemicals (herbicides and nitrate) into the Mississippi River, many of its tributaries, and, ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico. Even though extremely high streamflows were recorded during the flood in 1993, concentrations of herbicides,
Authors
Donald A. Goolsby, William A. Battaglin, E. Michael Thurman

Stable isotope enrichment in paleowaters of the southeast Atlantic coastal plain, United States

Paleowaters from the Floridan aquifer system in the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain have higher D/H and 18O/16O ratios than local Holocene ground water. Maximum δ18O enrichments in ground water having adjusted radiocarbon ages of 20,000 to 26,000 years are 0.7 to 2.3 per mil. The trend in isotopic enrichment in paleowaters is the reverse of that normally observed in continental glacial age gro
Authors
Niel Plummer

Meromixis in hypersaline Mono Lake, California. 3. Biogeochemical response to stratification and overturn

Mono Lake is a terminal, saline lake that became ectogenically meromictic in 1982–1983 and remained stratified until November 1988. During this period, the monimolimnion remained anoxic and nearly isothermal, while the upper mixolimnion was well oxygenated and exhibited a seasonal thermal regime. Dissolved sulfide and methane increased in the monimolimnion as a result of diffusive flux from the se
Authors
Laurence G. Miller, R. Jellison, Ronald S. Oremland, Charles W. Culbertson

Isolation and chemical characterization of dissolved and colloidal organic matter

Commonly used techniques for the concentration and isolation of organic matter from water, such as preparative chromatography, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, and the methods used to analyze the organic matter obtained by these methods are reviewed. The development of methods to obtain organic matter that is associated with fractions of the dissolved organic carbon other than humic substances
Authors
G. Aiken, J. Leenheer

Sorption of N2 and EGME vapors on some soils, clays, and mineral oxides and determination of sample surface areas by use of sorption data

Vapor sorption isotherms of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGME) at room temperature and isotherms of N2 gas at liquid nitrogen temperature were determined for various soils and minerals. The N2 monolayer capacities [Qm (N2)] were calculated from the BET equation and used to determine the surface areas. To examine whether EGME is an appropriate adsorbate for determination of surface areas, the a
Authors
C. T. Chiou, D.W. Rutherford, M. Manes

Atrazine degradation in a small stream in Iowa

A study was conducted during 1990 through an 11.2-km reach of Roberts Creek in northeastern Iowa to determine the fate of atrazine in a surface water environment Water samples were collected at ~1-month intervals from April through November during stable low to medium flow conditions and analyzed for atrazine and two of its initial biotic degradation products, desethylatrazine and deisopropylatraz
Authors
D.W. Kolpin, S. J. Kalkhoff

Crude oil in a shallow sand and gravel aquifer—I. Hydrogeology and inorganic geochemistry

Changes in the distribution of inorganic solutes in a shallow ground water contaminated by crude oil document a series of geochemical reactions initiated by biodegradation of the oil. Upgradient of an oil body floating on the water table, oxidation of oil to carbonic acid dissolves carbonate minerals in the aquifer matrix. In this oxidized zone pH is depressed ∼1 pH unit, and the concentrations of
Authors
P.C. Bennett, D.E. Siegel, M.J. Baedecker, M. F. Hult

Using borehole geophysics and cross-borehole flow testing to define hydraulic connections between fracture zones in bedrock aquifers

Nearly a decade of intensive geophysical logging at fractured rock hydrology research sites indicates that geophysical logs can be used to identify and characterize fractures intersecting boreholes. However, borehole-to-borehole flow tests indicate that only a few of the apparently open fractures found to intersect boreholes conduct flow under test conditions. This paper presents a systematic appr
Authors
Frederick L. Paillet

A brief history of the American radium industry and its ties to the scientific community of its early twentieth century

Federally funded remedial action projects are presently underway in New Jersey and Colorado at sites containing 226Ra and other radionuclides from radium-uranium ore extraction plants that operated during the early twentieth century. They are but the latest chapter in the story of an American industry that emerged and perished in the span of three decades. Major extraction plants were established
Authors
E. R. Landa