Publications

A computer-controlled spectrometer with a photodiode array detector has been used for wavelength and temperature resolved characterization of the vapor produced by an electrothermal atomizer. The system has been used to study the chloride matrix interference on the atomic absorption spectrometric determination of manganese and copper. The suppression of manganese and copper atom...

Water-resources investigations concerned with contaminant transport through aquifers comprised of very loose, unconsolidated sediments have shown that small-scale variations in aquifer characteristics can significantly affect solute transport and dispersion. Commonly, measurement accuracy and resolution have been limited by a borehole environment consisting of an annulus of disturbed...

Photolysis of rhodamine-WT dye under natural sunlight conditions was determined by measuring the loss of fluorescence as a function of time. Rate coefficients at 30° north latitude ranged from 4.77 × 10−2 day−1 for summer to 3.16 × 10−2 day−2 for winter. Experimental coefficients were in good agreement with values calculated using a laboratory-determined value of the quantum yield.

In aqueous systems, the distribution of many nonionic organic solutes in soil-sediment, aquatic organisms, and dissolved organic matter can be explained in terms of a partition model. The nonionic organic solute is distributed between water and different organic phases that behave as bulk solvents. Factors such as polarity, composition, and molecular size of the solute and organic phase...

Trace levels of ethane were produced biologically in anoxic sediment slurries from five chemically different aquatic environments. Gases from these locations displayed biogenic characteristics, having 12C-enriched values of δ13CH4 (−62 to −86%.), δ13C2H6 (−35 to −55%.) and high ratios (720 to 140,000) of CH4[C2H6+ C3H8]. Endogenous production of ethane by slurries was inhibited by...

The fate of acetone in water was investigated in an outdoor model stream located in southern Mississippi, U.S.A. Acetone was injected continuously for 32 days resulting in small milligram-perliter concentrations in the stream. Rhodamine-WT dye was injected at the beginning and at the end of the study to determine the time-of-travel and dispersion characteristics of the stream. A 12-h...

Factors controlling the concentration of dissolved hydrogen gas in anaerobic sedimentary environments were investigated. Results, presented here or previously, demonstrated that, in sediments, only microorganisms catalyze the oxidation of H2 coupled to the reduction of nitrate, Mn(IV), Fe(III), sulfate, or carbon dioxide. Theoretical considerations suggested that, at steady-state...

Laboratory experiments were conducted with well-characterized minerals to test the applicability of selective extraction schemes for Se and As partitioning in soils and sediments. Two specific steps were tested: the reductive dissolution of amorphous iron oxides and the oxidation of organic material. Selenium and As associated with amorphous iron oxides were usually not found in solution...

No abstract available.

A field technique for assessing the vertical distribution of hydraulic conductivity in an aquifer was applied to a fractured carbonate formation in southeastern Nevada. The technique combines the simultaneous use of fluid injection and geophysical logging to measure in situ vertical distributions of fluid velocity and hydraulic head down the borehole; these data subsequently are analyzed...

When hexadedyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) ion is exchanged for metal cations like calcium in smectite, the sorptive properties of the clay are greatly modified. The resultant HDTMA-smectite complex behaves as a dual sorbent, in the sorption of organic compounds, in which the mineral fraction functions as a solid adsorbent and the organic (HDTMA) phase as a partition medium. Capacities of...

In this study, laboratory experiments were used to investigate mechanisms that may cause anisotropy in the dispersion coefficient and to investigate the relation between anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity and anisotropy in longitudinal dispersion. Measurements of sodium chloride concentration (used as a tracer) were made at 105 in situ sampling locations in a new type of sand box...