Kate Campbell
Kate Campbell is a research biogeochemist specializing in microbial and abiotic metal redox cycling, mineralogy, and modeling in natural and mine-influenced waters.
Biography
Kate Campbell started her career with the USGS with the volunteer for science program as a high school student interested in the water quality of Boulder Creek, CO. After majoring in chemistry in college, she pursued a Ph.D. at Catech studying the biogeochemistry of arsenic redox transformations in reservoir sediments. She returned to the USGS as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow in 2007 in Menlo Park, CA, researching uranium bioremediation in shallow contaminated aquifers. Currently, she is a research chemist in Denver, CO. Her research projects include understanding the biogeochemistry and mineralogy of metals and metalloids in mine-impacted waters, particularly in acid rock drainage and uranium-contaminated water. She also studies microbial kinetics of iron, arsenic, and antimony oxidation in acid mine drainage, and how to incorporate microbial kinetics in reactive transport models for field-scale application as a tool for site managers.
Education:
Ph.D. – California Institute of Technology, Environmental Science and Engineering, Pasadena, CA, 2006
M.S. – California Institute of Technology, Environmental Science and Engineering, Pasadena, CA, 2003
B.S. – Georgetown University, Chemistry major (summa cum laude), Japanese language minor, Washington, D.C., 2001
Science and Products
Challenges in recovering resources from acid mine drainage
Metal recovery from mine waters and effluents is not a new approach but one that has occurred largely opportunistically over the last four millennia. Due to the need for low-cost resources and increasingly stringent environmental conditions, mine waters are being considered in a fresh light with a designed, deliberate approach to resource recovery...
Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Bowell, Robert J.; Campbell, Kate M.; Alpers, Charles N.Sulfolobus islandicus meta-populations in Yellowstone National Park hot springs
Abiotic and biotic forces shape the structure and evolution of microbial populations. We investigated forces that shape the spatial and temporal population structure of Sulfolobus islandicus by comparing geochemical and molecular analysis from seven hot springs in five regions sampled over 3 years in Yellowstone National Park. Through...
Campbell, Kate M.; Kouris, Angela; England, Whitney; Anderson, Rika E.; McCleskey, R. Blaine; Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Whitaker, Rachel J.Biogenic non-crystalline U(IV) revealed as major component in uranium ore deposits
Historically, it is believed that crystalline uraninite, produced via the abiotic reduction of hexavalent uranium (U(VI)) is the dominant reduced U species formed in low-temperature uranium roll-front ore deposits. Here we show that non-crystalline U(IV) generated through biologically mediated U(VI) reduction is the predominant U(IV)...
Bhattacharyya, Amrita; Campbell, Kate M.; Kelly, Shelly; Roebbert, Yvonne; Weyer, Stefan; Bernier-Latmani, Rizlan; Borch, ThomasStructured populations of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius with susceptibility to mobile genetic elements
The impact of a structured environment on genome evolution can be determined through comparative population genomics of species that live in the same habitat. Recent work comparing three genome sequences of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius suggested that highly structured, extreme, hot spring environments do not limit dispersal of this...
Anderson, Rika E.; Kouris, Angela; Seward, Christopher H.; Campbell, Kate M.; Whitaker, Rachel J.Mineralization dynamics of metakaolin-based alkali-activated cements
This paper investigates the early-age dynamics of mineral formation in metakaolin-based alkali-activated cements. The effects of silica availability and alkali content on mineral formation were investigated via X-ray diffraction and solid-state 29Si magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 2, 7, 14, and 28...
Gevaudan, Juan Pablo; Campbell, Kate M.; Kane, Tyler; Shoemaker, Richard K.; Srubar, Wil V.Filamentous hydrous ferric oxide biosignatures in a pipeline carrying acid mine drainage at Iron Mountain Mine, California
A pipeline carrying acidic mine effluent at Iron Mountain, CA, developed Fe(III)-rich precipitate caused by oxidation of Fe(II)aq. The native microbial community in the pipe included filamentous microbes. The pipe scale consisted of microbial filaments, and schwertmannite (ferric oxyhydroxysulfate, FOHS) mineral spheres and filaments. FOHS...
Williams, Amy J.; Alpers, Charles N.; Sumner, Dawn Y.; Campbell, Kate M.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.Persistent U(IV) and U(VI) following in-situ recovery (ISR) mining of a sandstone uranium deposit, Wyoming, USA
Drill-core samples from a sandstone-hosted uranium (U) deposit in Wyoming were characterized to determine the abundance and distribution of uranium following in-situ recovery (ISR) mining with oxygen- and carbon dioxide-enriched water. Concentrations of uranium, collected from ten depth intervals, ranged from 5 to 1920 ppm. A composite...
Gallegos, Tanya J.; Campbell, Kate M.; Zielinski, Robert A.; Reimus, P.W.; J.T. Clay; N. Janot; J. J. Bargar; Benzel, William M.From extreme pH to extreme temperature: An issue in honor of the geochemical contributions of Kirk Nordstrom, USGS hydrogeochemist
This special issue of Applied Geochemistry honors Dr. D. Kirk Nordstrom, and his influential career spent primarily at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This issue does not herald his retirement or other significant career milestone, but serves as a recognition of the impact his work has had on the field of geochemistry in general. This special...
Campbell, Kate M.; Verplanck, Philip L.; McCleskey, R. Blaine; Alpers, Charles N.Biogeochemical aspects of uranium mineralization, mining, milling, and remediation
Natural uranium (U) occurs as a mixture of three radioactive isotopes: 238U, 235U, and 234U. Only 235U is fissionable and makes up about 0.7% of natural U, while 238U is overwhelmingly the most abundant at greater than 99% of the total mass of U. Prior to the 1940s, U was predominantly used as a coloring agent, and U-bearing ores were mined mainly...
Campbell, Kate M.; Gallegos, Tanya J.; Landa, Edward R.Modeling low-temperature geochemical processes: Chapter 2
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...
Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Campbell, Kate M.Arsenic 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...
Campbell, Kate M.; Nordstrom, D. Kirk