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, Unversity 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
Decadal and long-term boreal soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration rates across a variety of ecosystems
Boreal soils play a critical role in the global carbon (C) cycle; therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms that control soil C accumulation and loss for this region. Examining C & nitrogen (N) accumulation rates over decades to centuries may provide additional understanding of the dominant mechanisms for their storage, which can...
Manies, Kristen L.; Harden, Jennifer W.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Turetsky, Merritt
Soil data for a vegetation gradient located at Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Site, interior Alaska
Boreal soils play an important role in the global carbon cycle owing to the large amount of carbon stored within this northern region. To understand how carbon and nitrogen storage varied among different ecosystems, a vegetation gradient was established in the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, located in interior Alaska. The...
Manies, Kristen L.; Harden, Jennifer W.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Xu, Xiaomei; McGeehin, John P. Biogeochemical controls of uranium bioavailability from the dissolved phase in natural freshwaters
To gain insights into the risks associated with uranium (U) mining and processing, we investigated the biogeochemical controls of U bioavailability in the model freshwater speciesLymnaea stagnalis (Gastropoda). Bioavailability of dissolved U(VI) was characterized in controlled laboratory experiments over a range of water hardness, pH, and in...
Croteau, Marie-Noele; Fuller, Christopher C.; Cain, Daniel J.; Campbell, Kate M.; Aiken, George R. A millennial-scale record of Pb and Hg contamination in peatlands of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California, USA
In this paper, we provide the first record of millennial patterns of Pb and Hg concentrations on the west coast of the United States. Peat cores were collected from two micro-tidal marshes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California. Core samples were analyzed for Pb, Hg, and Ti concentrations and dated using radiocarbon, 210Pb, and 137Cs....
Drexler, Judith Z.; Alpers, Charles N.; Neymark, Leonid; Paces, James B.; Taylor, Howard E.; Fuller, Christopher C. Dietary uptake of Cu sorbed to hydrous iron oxide is linked to cellular toxicity and feeding inhibition in a benthic grazer
Whereas feeding inhibition caused by exposure to contaminants has been extensively documented, the underlying mechanism(s) are less well understood. For this study, the behavior of several key feeding processes, including ingestion rate and assimilation efficiency, that affect the dietary uptake of Cu were evaluated in the benthic grazer ...
Cain, Daniel J.; Croteau, Marie-Noele; Fuller, Christopher C.; Ringwood, Amy H. Recent rates of carbon accumulation in montane fens ofYosemite National Park, California, U.S.A.
Little is known about recent rates of carbon storage in montane peatlands, particularly in the western United States. Here we report on recent rates of carbon accumulation (past 50 to 100 years) in montane groundwater-fed peatlands (fens) of Yosemite National Park in central California, U.S.A. Peat cores were collected at three sites ranging in...
Drexler, Judith Z.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Orlando, James L. ; Moore, Peggy E. Holocene environmental changes inferred from biological and sedimentological proxies in a high elevation Great Basin lake in the northern Ruby Mountains, Nevada, USA
Multi-proxy analyses were conducted on a sediment core from Favre Lake, a high elevation cirque lake in the northern Ruby Mountains, Nevada, and provide a ca. 7600 year record of local and regional environmental change. Data indicate that lake levels were lower from 7600-5750 cal yr BP, when local climate was warmer and/or drier than today....
Wahl, David B.; Starratt, Scott W.; Anderson, Lysanna; Kusler, Jennifer E.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Addison, Jason A.; Wan, Elmira Modeling tidal freshwater marsh sustainability in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta under a broad suite of potential future scenarios
In this paper, we report on the adaptation and application of a one-dimensional marsh surface elevation model, the Wetland Accretion Rate Model of Ecosystem Resilience (WARMER), to explore the conditions that lead to sustainable tidal freshwater marshes in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. We defined marsh accretion parameters to encapsulate...
Swanson, Kathleen M.; Drexler, Judith Z.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Schoellhamer, David H. Uranium Sequestration During Biostimulated Reduction and In Response to the Return of Oxic Conditions In Shallow Aquifers
A proposed approach for groundwater remediation of uranium contamination is to generate reducing conditions by stimulating the growth of microbial populations through injection of electron donor compounds into the subsurface. Sufficiently reducing conditions will result in reduction of soluble hexavalent uranium, U(VI), and precipitation of the...
Fuller, Christopher C.; Johnson, Kelly J.; Akstin, Katherine; Singer, David M.; Yabusaki, Steven B.; Fang, Yilin; Fuhrmann, M. Sedimentary organic biomarkers suggest detrimental effects of PAHs on estuarine microbial biomass during the 20th century in San Francisco Bay, CA, USA
Hydrocarbon contaminants are ubiquitous in urban aquatic ecosystems, and the ability of some microbial strains to degrade certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is well established. However, detrimental effects of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination on nondegrader microbial populations and photosynthetic organisms have not often been...
Nilsen, Elena B.; Rosenbauer, Robert J.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Jaffe, Bruce E. Effects of permafrost thaw on CO2 and CH4 exchange in a western Alaska peatland chronosequence
Permafrost soils store over half of global soil carbon (C), and northern frozen peatlands store about 10% of global permafrost C. With thaw, inundation of high latitude lowland peatlands typically increases the surface-atmosphere flux of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas. To examine the effects of lowland permafrost thaw over millennial...
Carmel E. Johnston; Stephanie A. Ewing; Harden, Jennifer W.; Ruth K. Varner; Wickland, Kimberly P.; Koch, Joshua C.; Fuller, Christopher C.; Manies, Kristen L.; M. Torre Jorgenson
The relative importance of oceanic nutrient inputs for Bass Harbor Marsh Estuary at Acadia National Park, Maine
The U.S. Geological Survey and Acadia National Park (ANP) collaborated on a study of nutrient inputs into Bass Harbor Marsh Estuary on Mount Desert Island, Maine, to better understand ongoing eutrophication, oceanic nutrient inputs, and potential management solutions. This report includes the estimation of loads of nitrate, ammonia, total...
Huntington, Thomas G.; Culbertson, Charles W.; Fuller, Christopher; Glibert, Patricia; Sturtevant, Luke