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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: 3785

Contaminants of emerging concern in fresh leachate from landfills in the conterminous United States Contaminants of emerging concern in fresh leachate from landfills in the conterminous United States

To better understand the composition of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in landfill leachate, fresh leachate from 19 landfills was sampled across the United States during 2011. The sampled network included 12 municipal and 7 private landfills with varying landfill waste compositions, geographic and climatic settings, ages of waste, waste loads, and leachate production. A total of...
Authors
Jason R. Masoner, Dana W. Kolpin, Edward T. Furlong, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, James L. Gray, Eric A. Schwab

Effects of a dual-pump crude-oil recovery system, Bemidji, Minnesota, USA Effects of a dual-pump crude-oil recovery system, Bemidji, Minnesota, USA

A crude-oil spill occurred in 1979 when a pipeline burst near Bemidji, MN. In 1998, the pipeline company installed a dual-pump recovery system designed to remove crude oil remaining in the subsurface at the site. The remediation from 1999 to 2003 resulted in removal of about 115,000 L of crude oil, representing between 36% and 41% of the volume of oil (280,000 to 316,000 L) estimated to...
Authors
Geoffrey N. Delin, William N. Herkelrath

Pesticide concentrations in frog tissue and wetland habitats in alandscape dominated by agriculture Pesticide concentrations in frog tissue and wetland habitats in alandscape dominated by agriculture

Habitat loss and exposure to pesticides are likely primary factors contributing to amphibian decline in agricultural landscapes. Conservation efforts have attempted to restore wetlands lost through landscape modifications to reduce contaminant loads in surface waters and providing quality habitat to wildlife. The benefits of this increased wetland area, perhaps especially for amphibians...
Authors
Kelly L. Smalling, Rebecca Reeves, Erin L. Muths, Mark W. Vandever, William A. Battaglin, Michelle Hladik, Clay L. Pierce

Practical limitations on the use of diurnal temperature signals to quantify groundwater upwelling Practical limitations on the use of diurnal temperature signals to quantify groundwater upwelling

Groundwater upwelling to streams creates unique habitat by influencing stream water quality and temperature; upwelling zones also serve as vectors for contamination when groundwater is degraded. Temperature time series data acquired along vertical profiles in the streambed have been applied to simple analytical models to determine rates of vertical fluid flux. These models are based on...
Authors
Martin A. Briggs, Laura K. Lautz, Sean F. Buckley, John W. Lane

Dual-domain mass-transfer parameters from electrical hysteresis: Theory and analytical approach applied to laboratory, synthetic streambed, and groundwater experiments Dual-domain mass-transfer parameters from electrical hysteresis: Theory and analytical approach applied to laboratory, synthetic streambed, and groundwater experiments

Models of dual‐domain mass transfer (DDMT) are used to explain anomalous aquifer transport behavior such as the slow release of contamination and solute tracer tailing. Traditional tracer experiments to characterize DDMT are performed at the flow path scale (meters), which inherently incorporates heterogeneous exchange processes; hence, estimated “effective” parameters are sensitive to
Authors
Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, John B. Ong, Judson W. Harvey, John W. Lane

Measurements of HFC-134a and HCFC-22 in groundwater and unsaturated-zone air: implications for HFCs and HCFCs as dating tracers Measurements of HFC-134a and HCFC-22 in groundwater and unsaturated-zone air: implications for HFCs and HCFCs as dating tracers

A new analytical method using gas chromatography with an atomic emission detector (GC–AED) was developed for measurement of ambient concentrations of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in soil, air, and groundwater, with the goal of determining their utility as groundwater age tracers. The analytical detection limits of HCFC-22 (difluorochloromethane, CHClF2)...
Authors
Karl B. Haase, Eurybiades Busenberg, Niel Plummer, Gerolamo Casile, Ward E. Sanford

High-resolution delineation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds in a dipping, fractured mudstone: depth- and strata-dependent spatial variability from rock-core sampling High-resolution delineation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds in a dipping, fractured mudstone: depth- and strata-dependent spatial variability from rock-core sampling

Synthesis of rock-core sampling and chlorinated volatile organic compound (CVOC) analysis at five coreholes, with hydraulic and water-quality monitoring and a detailed hydrogeologic framework, was used to characterize the fine-scale distribution of CVOCs in dipping, fractured mudstones of the Lockatong Formation of Triassic age, of the Newark Basin in West Trenton, New Jersey. From these...
Authors
Daniel J. Goode, Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Pierre J. Lacombe

Sampling and monitoring for the mine life cycle Sampling and monitoring for the mine life cycle

Sampling and Monitoring for the Mine Life Cycle provides an overview of sampling for environmental purposes and monitoring of environmentally relevant variables at mining sites. It focuses on environmental sampling and monitoring of surface water, and also considers groundwater, process water streams, rock, soil, and other media including air and biological organisms. The handbook...
Authors
Virginia T. McLemore, Kathleen S. Smith, Carol C. Russell

Bioaccumulation and toxicity of CuO nanoparticles by a freshwater invertebrate after waterborne and dietborne exposures Bioaccumulation and toxicity of CuO nanoparticles by a freshwater invertebrate after waterborne and dietborne exposures

The incidental ingestion of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) can be an important route of uptake for aquatic organisms. Yet, knowledge of dietary bioavailability and toxicity of NPs is scarce. Here we used isotopically modified copper oxide (65CuO) NPs to characterize the processes governing their bioaccumulation in a freshwater snail after waterborne and dietborne exposures. Lymnaea...
Authors
Marie Noele Croteau, Superb K. Misra, Samuel N. Luoma, Eugenia Valsami-Jones

An empirical approach to modeling methylmercury concentrations in an Adirondack stream watershed An empirical approach to modeling methylmercury concentrations in an Adirondack stream watershed

Inverse empirical models can inform and improve more complex process-based models by quantifying the principal factors that control water quality variation. Here we developed a multiple regression model that explains 81% of the variation in filtered methylmercury (FMeHg) concentrations in Fishing Brook, a fourth-order stream in the Adirondack Mountains, New York, a known “hot spot” of Hg
Authors
Douglas A. Burns, Elizabeth A. Nystrom, David M. Wolock, Paul M. Bradley, Karen Riva-Murray

A computer program for uncertainty analysis integrating regression and Bayesian methods A computer program for uncertainty analysis integrating regression and Bayesian methods

This work develops a new functionality in UCODE_2014 to evaluate Bayesian credible intervals using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. The MCMC capability in UCODE_2014 is based on the FORTRAN version of the differential evolution adaptive Metropolis (DREAM) algorithm of Vrugt et al. (2009), which estimates the posterior probability density function of model parameters in high...
Authors
Dan Lu, Ming Ye, Mary C. Hill, Eileen P. Poeter, Gary Curtis
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