D. Kirk Nordstrom
Dr. Nordstrom is a hydrogeochemist (emeritus) with the US Geological Survey whose works covers acid mine drainage, geothermal water chemistry, radioactive waste research, groundwater geochemistry, analytical chemistry, redox species, geochemical modeling, thermodynamic data evaluation, and geomicrobiology.
Dr. Nordstrom has worked on field sites, on laboratory studies, and theoretical calculations having to do with water-rock interactions. Field work includes interpreting the origin, evolution, fate, and consequences of acid mine drainage from metal mining, interpreting groundwater chemistry in a variety of aquifer systems, and interpreting the origins and evolution of geothermal water chemistry. He has contributed to the interpretation of groundwater composition in deep aquifer systems considered for nuclear waste disposal; the development of preservation methods and new analytical techniques for aqueous species, especially redox species, in natural waters; and the application of geochemical modeling to the interpretation of water-rock interactions for both surface and groundwaters. He has contributed to the development of geochemical modeling codes and the evaluation of thermodynamic data used in the codes. He has studied the role of microbes in the rates and processes of oxidation and reduction of redox-sensitive elements. He has focused often on the hydrogeochemical behavior of arsenic and fluoride which are often found as geogenic contaminants in groundwaters. He has worked on four USEPA Superfund sites and close to 100 mine sites.
Professional Experience
Assistant Professor, University of Virginia, 1976-80
Associate Editor for Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 1986-87
Managing Editor for Geochemistry for Earth-Science Reviews, 2006-09
Co-editor for “Sulfate Minerals – Crystallography, Geochemistry, and Environmental Significance,” with John Jambor and Charles Alpers, Mineralogical Society of America and Geochemical Society, 2000
Editor for “Groundwater Geochemistry: A practical guide to modeling of natural and contaminated systems” by B.J. Merkel and B. Planer-Friedrich, 2005, Springer, Berlin and second edition, 2008
Co-editor for “Arsenic: Environmental Geochemistry, Mineralogy, and Microbiology,” with Rob Bowell, Charles Alpers, and Heather Jamieson, Mineralogical Association of America and Geochemical Society, 2014
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. (Geochemistry) Stanford University, 1977
M.S. (Geology) University of Colorado, 1971
B.A. (Chemistry) Southern Illinois University, 1969
Affiliations and Memberships*
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Member, Geochemical Society
Fellow, Geological Society of America, (Hydrogeology Division)
Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America
Fellow, International Association of Geochemistry
Member, International Mine Water Association
Member, Board of Radioactive Waste Management, National Academy of Sciences, 1990-96
Member, Science Advisory Board, Thermal Biology Institute, Montana State University, 2000-09
Honors and Awards
Sigma Xi Grant in Aid of Research, 1970
Grant from the Anaconda Company, 1970
National Science Foundation Fellowship, 1970 71
Stanford Scholarship, 1975-76
American Men and Women of Science, 33rd edition
Who's Who in the West, 21st edition
Adjunct Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, 1991-2004
Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lectureship Award, Geological Society of America, 1996
Phoebe Apperson Hearst Distinguished Lecturer (University of California Berkeley), 1998
Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America, 2000
Fellow, Geological Society of America, 2001
Meritorious Service Award, US Department of the Interior, 2002
Cooperative Conservation Award, US Department of the Interior, 2008
International Ingerson Lecture Award, International Association of Geochemistry, 2009
Friend of Water-Rock Interaction Award, International Association of Geochemistry, 2010
Adrian Smith Lecture Award, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2011
USGS Water Research Lecture Award, 2012
Adjunct Professor Award, Department of Chemistry, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia 2014-17
Brian Hitchon Award, International Association of Geochemistry, 2016 (most cited paper of 2011)
Leader of Water-Rock Interaction Award, International Association of Geochemistry, 2016
Halbouty Visiting Chair Award, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, March, 2018
Abstracts and Presentations
US Geological Survey (1985-2000) Geochemistry of Ground Water Systems 2-week Training Course (w/ others)
CIEMAT/ENRESA, Madrid (1994) Short course on Aqueous Geochemistry & Geochemical Modeling
CIEMAT/ENRESA, Madrid (1996) Short course on Isotope Hydrogeochemistry (with Niel Plummer)
ATSDR, Atlanta, GA (1997) Short course on Geochemical Modeling (with Jim Ball)
Porto University, Portugal (2008) Short Course on Arsenic Geochemistry, April 28-May 3
State of California Water Board (2009) Short Course on Characterizing, Predicting, and Modeling Water Quality at Mine Sites, May 18-21
Wuhan University, Hubei, China (2009) Advances in Hydrogeochemistry, March 23-26
University of Concepcion, Chile (2010) Short Course on Mining and Sustainability, October 11-15
Society for Economic Geologists (2010) Environmental Geochemistry for Modern Mining, October 29-30, Denver, CO (Annual Meeting of Geological Society of America)
EPA Webinar Workshop (2013) Predicting and modeling water chemistry associated with hardrock mine sites, February 13
National University of Salta, Argentina, Short Course on the Geochemistry of Acid Mine Drainage
Murdoch University, Australia (2015) Master Class: Introduction to Geochemical Modeling, Feb. 24
China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China (2015) Half-day seminar on Introduction to PHREEQC
Luleå University of Technology (2017) Geochemical modeling for mine site characterization and Luleå, Sweden remediation with PHREEQC exercises, July 3 – 5
Texas A&M University (2018) Chemical Elements in Water, March 1 – 31
Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China (2018) Chemical Elements in Water, July 16-28
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS (2019) Overview of Groundwater Chemistry: Convergence of Chemistry, Geology and Hydrology
More than 250 abstracts presented at professional society meetings, more than 150 presentations within the USGS, other universities, and other national and international institutions (other than courses taught). Numerous briefings to state and federal agencies.
Science and Products
Arsenic and antimony geochemistry of mine wastes, associated waters and sediments at the Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Towards understanding the puzzling lack of acid geothermal springs in Tibet (China): Insight from a comparison with Yellowstone (USA) and some active volcanic hydrothermal systems
Modeling low-temperature geochemical processes:
Biogenic iron mineralization at Iron Mountain, CA with implications for detection with the Mars Curiosity rover
Thermodynamic properties for arsenic minerals and aqueous species
Arsenic speciation and sorption in natural environments
The environmental geochemistry of Arsenic – An overview
Preface
Arsenic associated with historical gold mining in the Sierra Nevada foothills: Case study and field trip guide for Empire Mine State Historic Park, California
Extremely arsenic-rich, pH-neutral waters from the Giant Mine, Canada
Characterization and remediation of iron(III) oxide-rich scale in a pipeline carrying acid mine drainage at Iron Mountain Mine, California, USA
Solute and geothermal flux monitoring using electrical conductivity in the Madison, Firehole, and Gibbon Rivers, Yellowstone National Park
Science and Products
- Data
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 164
Arsenic and antimony geochemistry of mine wastes, associated waters and sediments at the Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Elevated levels of arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) in water and sediments are legacy residues found downstream from gold-mining activities at the Giant Mine in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. To track the transport and fate of As and Sb, samples of mine-waste from the mill, and surface water, sediment, pore-water, and vegetation downstream of the mine were collected. Mine waste, pAuthorsSkya E. Fawcett, Heather E. Jamieson, D. Kirk Nordstrom, R. Blaine McCleskeyTowards understanding the puzzling lack of acid geothermal springs in Tibet (China): Insight from a comparison with Yellowstone (USA) and some active volcanic hydrothermal systems
Explanations for the lack of acid geothermal springs in Tibet are inferred from a comprehensive hydrochemical comparison of Tibetan geothermal waters with those discharged from Yellowstone (USA) and two active volcanic areas, Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) and Miravalles (Costa Rica) where acid springs are widely distributed and diversified in terms of geochemical characteristic and origin. For the hyAuthorsD. Kirk Nordstrom, Qinghai Guo, R. Blaine McCleskeyModeling low-temperature geochemical processes:
This chapter provides an overview of geochemical modeling that applies to water–rock interactions under ambient conditions of temperature and pressure. Topics include modeling definitions, historical background, issues of activity coefficients, popular codes and databases, examples of modeling common types of water–rock interactions, and issues of model reliability. Examples include speciation, miAuthorsD. Kirk Nordstrom, Kate M. CampbellBiogenic iron mineralization at Iron Mountain, CA with implications for detection with the Mars Curiosity rover
(Introduction) Microbe-mineral interactions and biosignature preservation in oxidized sulfidic ore bodies (gossans) are prime candidates for astrobiological study. Such oxidized iron systems have been proposed as analogs for some Martian environments. Recent studies identified microbial fossils preserved as mineral-coated filaments. This study documents microbially-mediated mineral biosignatures iAuthorsAmy J. Williams, Dawn Y. Sumner, Charles N. Alpers, Kate M. Campbell, D. Kirk NordstromThermodynamic properties for arsenic minerals and aqueous species
Quantitative geochemical calculations are not possible without thermodynamic databases and considerable advances in the quantity and quality of these databases have been made since the early days of Lewis and Randall (1923), Latimer (1952), and Rossini et al. (1952). Oelkers et al. (2009) wrote, “The creation of thermodynamic databases may be one of the greatest advances in the field of geochemistAuthorsD. Kirk Nordstrom, Juraj Majzlan, Erich KönigsbergerArsenic speciation and sorption in natural environments
Aqueous arsenic speciation, or the chemical forms in which arsenic exists in water, is a challenging, interesting, and complicated aspect of environmental arsenic geochemistry. Arsenic has the ability to form a wide range of chemical bonds with carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur, resulting in a large variety of compounds that exhibit a host of chemical and biochemical properties. Besides the intAuthorsKate M. Campbell, D. Kirk NordstromThe environmental geochemistry of Arsenic – An overview
Arsenic is one of the most prevalent toxic elements in the environment. The toxicity, mobility, and fate of arsenic in the environment are determined by a complex series of controls dependent on mineralogy, chemical speciation, and biological processes. The element was first described by Theophrastus in 300 B.C. and named arsenikon (also arrhenicon; Caley and Richards 1956) referring to its “potenAuthorsRobert J. Bowell, Charles N. Alpers, Heather E. Jamieson, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Juraj MajzlanPreface
Arsenic is perhaps history’s favorite poison, often termed the “King of Poisons” and the “Poison of Kings” and thought to be the demise of fiction’s most famous ill-fated lovers. The toxic nature of arsenic has been known for millennia with the mineral realgar (AsS), originally named “arsenikon” by Theophrastus in 300 B.C.E. meaning literally “potent.” For centuries it has been used as rat poisonAuthorsRobert J. Bowell, Charles N. Alpers, Heather E. Jamieson, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Juraj MajzlanArsenic associated with historical gold mining in the Sierra Nevada foothills: Case study and field trip guide for Empire Mine State Historic Park, California
The Empire Mine, together with other mines in the Grass Valley mining district, produced at least 21.3 million troy ounces (663 tonnes) of gold (Au) during the 1850s through the 1950s, making it the most productive hardrock Au mining district in California history (Clark 1970). The Empire Mine State Historic Park (Empire Mine SHP or EMSHP), established in 1975, provides the public with an opportunAuthorsCharles N. Alpers, Perry A Myers, Daniel Millsap, Tamsen B RegnierExtremely arsenic-rich, pH-neutral waters from the Giant Mine, Canada
Roasting arsenopyrite-bearing gold ore for more than fifty years has resulted in nearly 300,000 tons of arsenic trioxide waste at the Giant mine near Yellowknife, NWT, Canada. Most of this has been stored in underground chambers sealed with concrete bulkheads. Seepages from underground drillholes and fractures contain up to 4,000 mg As L-1. Approximately 70% of the total is As(III). The dominant dAuthorsD. Kirk NordstromCharacterization and remediation of iron(III) oxide-rich scale in a pipeline carrying acid mine drainage at Iron Mountain Mine, California, USA
http://imwa.info/docs/imwa_2013/IMWA2013_Campbell_481.pdfAuthorsKate M. Campbell, Charles N. Alpers, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Alex E. Blum, Amy WilliamsSolute and geothermal flux monitoring using electrical conductivity in the Madison, Firehole, and Gibbon Rivers, Yellowstone National Park
The thermal output from the Yellowstone magma chamber can be estimated from the Cl flux in the major rivers in Yellowstone National Park; and by utilizing continuous discharge and electrical conductivity measurements the Cl flux can be calculated. The relationship between electrical conductivity and concentrations of Cl and other geothermal solutes (Na, SO4, F, HCO3, SiO2, K, Li, B, and As) was quAuthorsR. Blaine McCleskey, Laura Clor, Jacob B. Lowenstern, William C. Evans, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Henry Heasler, Mark Huebner - News
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government