Publications

While 'water quality function' is cited as an important wetland function to design for and preserve, we demonstrate that the scale at which hydrochemical samples are collected can significantly influence interpretations of biogeochemical processes in wetlands. Subsurface, chemical profiles for both nutrients and major ions were determined at a site in southwestern Wisconsin that...

Infiltration and dispersion (including molecular diffusion) can transport volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from urban air into shallow groundwater. The gasoline additive methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is of special interest because of its (1) current levels in some urban air, (2) strong partitioning from air into water, (3) resistance to degradation, (4) use as an octane-booster since...

Assimilation efficiencies (AEs) and physiological turnover-rate constants (k) of six trace elements (Ag, Am, Cd, Co, Se, Zn) in four marine bivalves (Crassostrea virginica Gmelin,Macoma balthica Linnaeus, Mercenaria mercenaria Linnaeus, and Mytilus edulis Linnaeus) were measured in radiotracer-depuration experiments. Egestion rates of unassimilated elements were highest during the first...

Microorganisms indigenous to a shallow aquifer, which underlies an explosives-contaminated site, mineralized 28% of [U-ring-14C] 2,4–dinitrotoluene to 14CO2 within 28 days under aerobic conditions. Approximately 20% of added 2,4–dinitrotoluene remained undegraded at the end of the incubation while approximately 22% and 6% were transformed to 4–amino-2–nitrotoluene and 2–amino-4...

Little is known about the role of protists in the saturated subsurface. Porous media microcosms containing bacteria and protists, were used to determine whether flagellates from an organically contaminated aquifer could substantively affect the number of free- living bacteria (FLB). When flagellates were present, the 3-40% maximum breakthrough of fluorescent y labelled FLB injected into...

The detection of the sulfonic acid metabolites of the chloroacetanilide herbicides acetochlor, alachlor, butachlor, propachlor, and, more recently, metolachlor in surface and ground water suggests that a common mechanism for dechlorination exists via the glutathione conjugation pathway. The identification of these herbicides and their metabolites is important due to growing public...

This study used chemical analyses of dated sediment cores from reservoirs to define historical trends in water quality in the influent river basins. This work applies techniques from paleolimnology to reservoirs, and in the process, highlights differences between sediment-core interpretations for reservoirs and natural lakes. Sediment cores were collected from six reservoirs in the...

Fluid saturation, particle-size distribution, and porosity measurements were obtained from 269 core samples collected from six boreholes along a 90-m transect at a subregion of a crude-oil spill site, the north pool, near Bemidji, Minnesota. The oil saturation data, collected 11 years after the spill, showed an irregularly shaped oil body that appeared to be affected by sediment spatial

In a solute-transport model, if a constant-concentration boundary condition is applied at a node in an active flow field, a solute flux can occur by both advective and dispersive processes. The potential for advective release is demonstrated by reexamining the Hydrologic Code Intercomparison (HYDROCOIN) project case 5 problem, which represents a salt dome overlain by a shallow...

The distribution of radioactivity in ground water in the Newark Basin is controlled by the lithology of the aquifer and the degree of contact between the water that flows through the fractured strata and the radioactive lithologic units. The primary water-bearing lithologic units of the Newark Basin that contain elevated levels of radioactivity are the arkosic sandstones of the Stockton...

Agricultural chemicals in surface water may constitute a human health risk or have adverse effects on aquatic life. Recent research on unregulated rivers in the midwestern USA documents that elevated concentrations of herbicides occur for 1-4 months following application in late spring and early summer. In contrast, nitrate concentrations in unregulated rivers are elevated during fall...

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...