Christopher Fuller
My research characterizes processes and mechanisms of metal sorption reactions through field studies and lab experiments to better understand the metal transport and natural attenuation in mine contaminated systems and to better understand geochemical processes affecting bioavailability of metal contaminants to aquatic organisms. Sediment radioisotopes are measured to quantify accumulation rates.
Biography
Education
- 1976: BS Chemistry, SUNY Oswego
- 1982: MS Geology, emphasis in Marine Geochemistry, University of Southern California
Professional Studies/Experience
- 2019 - current: Scientist Emeritus
- 2018 - 2019: Research Hydrologist (Geochemistry), Hydrological-Ecological Interactions Branch, Earth Surface Processes Division, Water Mission Area, U.S. Geological Survey
- 1982 - 2017: Research Hydrologist (Geochemistry), National Research Program, Western Region, U.S. Geological Survey
- 1976 - 1982: Research Technician, Unversity of Southern California
Mentorship/Outreach
Professional societies/affiliations/committees/editorial boards
American Geophysical Union
American Chemical Society
Geochemical Society
Honors, awards, recognition, elected offices
- May 1996: Editors Citation for Excellence in Manuscript Review for the Soil Science Society of America Journal
- May 2003. STAR award for instrumental role in developing cooperative project with BLM at the Fry Canyon permeable reactive barrier demonstration site.
- November 2006 Superior Service Award
- October 2007. STAR award “Chris has done an outstanding job in age dating over 90 lake sediment cores collected from Great Salt Lake in a very short time frame to accommodate a Utah Water Science Center cooperator. This work was published in Applied Geochemistry.
- June 2014 Superior Service Award
Science and Products
Minerals Science Team
The Minerals Integrated Science Team focuses on contaminant exposures in the environment that might originate from mineral resource activities including, transportation, storage, extraction and waste management. Perceived health risks to humans and other organisms will be distinguished from actual risks, if any. If actual risks are identified this Team will inform how to...
Study Reveals Processes that Control Uranium Bioavailability in a Freshwater Snail—Relevance to Aquatic Biota in the Grand Canyon Area
Scientists refined an existing speciation model to identify key biogeochemical processes controlling dissolved uranium bioavailability to a freshwater snail. This information is important to advance current understanding and prediction of the ecological risk posed by uranium mining to freshwater ecosystems, including federally managed lands such as in the Grand Canyon area.
A 450-year record of environmental change from Castle Lake, California (USA), inferred from diatoms and organic geochemistry
A 39-cm sediment core from Castle Lake, California (USA) spans the last ~ 450 years and was analyzed for diatoms and organic geochemistry (δ15N, δ13C, and C:N), with the goal of determining sensitivity to natural climate variation and twentieth century anthropogenic effects. Castle Lake is a subalpine, nitrogen-limited lake with ~ 5 ...
Noble, Paula; McGaughey, Gary A.; Rosen, Michael R.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Aquino-López, Marco A.; Chandra, Sudeep Transport and speciation of uranium in groundwater-surface water systems impacted by legacy milling operations
Growing worldwide concern over uranium contamination of groundwater resources has placed an emphasis on understanding uranium transport dynamics and potential toxicity in groundwater-surface water systems. In this study, we utilized novel in-situ sampling methods to establish the location and magnitude of contaminated groundwater entry into a...
Byrne, Patrick; Fuller, Christopher C.; Naftz, David L.; Runkel, Robert L.; Lehto, Niklas J; Dam, William L Uranium bioaccumulation dynamics in the mayfly Neocloeon triangulifer and application to site-specific prediction
Little is known about the underlying mechanisms governing the bioaccumulation of uranium (U) in aquatic insects. We experimentally parameterized conditional rate constants for aqueous U uptake, dietary U uptake, and U elimination for the aquatic baetid mayfly Neocloeon triangulifer. Results showed that this species accumulates U from both the...
Henry, Brianna L.; Croteau, Marie-Noele; Walters, David; Miller, Janet L.; Cain, Daniel J.; Fuller, Christopher C. Pavement alters delivery of sediment and fallout radionuclides to urbanstreams
Sediment from urban impervious surfaces has the potential to be an important vector for contaminants, particularly where stormwater culverts and other buried channels draining large impervious areas exit from underground pipes into open channels. To better understand urban sediment sources and their relation to fallout radionuclides, we collected...
Gellis, Allen; Fuller, Christopher C.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Mahler, Barbara; Welty, C.; Miller, Andrew; Nibert, Lucas A; Clifton, Zachary; Malen, Jeremy; Kemper, J.T. Combining sediment fingerprinting with age-dating sediment using fallout radionuclides for an agricultural stream, Walnut Creek, Iowa, USA
PurposeThe main purpose of this study was to demonstrate the utility of the sediment fingerprinting approach to apportion surface-derived sediment, and then age date that portion using short-lived fallout radionuclides. In systems where a large mass of mobile sediment is in channel storage, age dating provides an understanding of the transfer of...
Gellis, Allen; Fuller, Christopher C.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Filstrup, Christopher T.; Cole, Kevin; Sabitov, Timur Competitive interactions among H, CU, and Zn ion moderate aqueous uptake of Cu and Zn by an aquatic insect
The absorption of aqueous copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) by aquatic insects, a group widely used to assess water quality, is unresolved. This study examined interactions among Cu, Zn, and protons that potentially moderate Cu and Zn uptake by the acid-tolerant stonefly Zapada sp. Saturation uptake kinetics was imposed to identify competitive mechanisms...
Cain, Daniel J.; Croteau, Marie-Noele; Fuller, Christopher C. Carbon accumulation and vertical accretion in a restored vs. historic salt marsh in southern Puget Sound, Washington, United States
Few comparisons exist between vertical accretion (VA) and carbon accumulation rates (CARs), in restored vs. historic (i.e., reference) marshes. Here we compare these processes in a formerly diked, sparsely vegetated, restored salt marsh (Six Gill Slough, SG), whose surface is subsided relative to the tidal frame, to an adjacent, relatively...
Drexler, Judith Z.; Woo, Isa; Fuller, Christopher C.; Nakai, Glynnis The approaching obsolescence of 137Cs dating of wetland soils in North America
The peak fallout in 1963 of the radionuclide 137Cs has been used to date lake, reservoir, continental shelf, and wetland sedimentary deposits. In wetlands such dating is used to project the ability of wetlands to keep pace with sea level rise and develop strategies for mitigating carbon pollution using biological...
Drexler, Judith Z.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Archfield, Stacey A.
Geochemistry of mercury and other constituents in subsurface sediment—Analyses from 2011 and 2012 coring campaigns, Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California
Cache Creek Settling Basin was constructed in 1937 to trap sediment from Cache Creek before delivery to the Yolo Bypass, a flood conveyance for the Sacramento River system that is tributary to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Sediment management options being considered by stakeholders in the Cache Creek Settling Basin include sediment excavation...
Arias, Michelle R.; Alpers, Charles N.; Marvin-DiPasquale, Mark C.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Agee, Jennifer L.; Sneed, Michelle; Morita, Andrew Y.; Salas, Antonia Estimation and uncertainty of recent carbon accumulation and vertical accretion in drained and undrained forested peatlands of the southeastern USA
The purpose of this study was to determine how drainage impacts carbon densities and recent rates (past 50 years) of vertical accretion and carbon accumulation in southeastern forested peatlands. We compared these parameters in drained maple-gum (MAPL), Atlantic white cedar (CDR), and pocosin (POC) communities in the Great Dismal Swamp...
Drexler, Judith Z.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Orlando, James L.; Salas, Antonia; Wurster, Frederic C.; Duberstein, Jamie A. Sources and ages of fine-grained sediment to streams using fallout radionuclides in the Midwestern United States
Fallout radionuclides, 7Be and 210Pbex, sampled in bed sediment for 99 watersheds in the Midwestern region of the United States and in 15 samples of suspended sediment from 3 of these watersheds were used to partition upland from channel sources and to estimate the age or the time since the surface-derived portion of sediment was on the...
Gellis, Allen; Fuller, Christopher C.; Van Metre, Peter C. Assessing the dietary bioavailability of metals associated with natural particles: Extending the use of the reverse labeling approach to zinc
We extend the use of a novel tracing technique to quantify the bioavailability of zinc (Zn) associated with natural particles using snails enriched with a less common Zn stable isotope. Lymnaea stagnalis is a model species that has relatively fast Zn uptake rates from the dissolved phase, enabling their rapid enrichment in 67Zn during the initial...
Croteau, Marie-Noele; Cain, Daniel J.; Fuller, Christopher C.