Clay mineralogy in relation to landscape instability in the coast range of Oregon

The mineralogy of soils involved in mass movement in Oregon's coast range was examined to determine relationships between clay mineralogy and landscape instability. The objectives were: 1) to determine what kind of materials constitute the less than 2μ fraction of soils involved in different categories of mass movement, and 2) to determine how the composition of the mineral suite varies; at an individual site as a function of depth or slope position, and between sites as a function of parent material. Field evidence was used to assign each site to one of the following categories: debris avalanche, creep and slump, and earthflow. Although no sites were specifically identified as being stable, a number of samples were taken at varying distances laterally away from actively failing sites. The clay fractions were characterized by X-ray diffractions, selected samples were analyzed by differential thermal analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. Field and laboratory data indicate that the kind of mass movement and the mineralogy of the materials involved vary with the parent material. The clay fraction of debris avalanches consisted primarily of nonexpanding layer silicates that characteristically have large particle sizes and small water holding capacities. Dehydrated halloysite, chloritic intergrade, and mica were the common minerals in those areas underlain by sandstones and siltstones of the Tyee Formation as well as the massive basalt flowrock of the Siletz River Volcanic Series. The clay fraction of soils derived from other Tertiary sandstones (Galice and Lookingglass Formations) consisted of chloritic intergrade, chlorite, mica, and kaolinite. Serpentine, chlorite, and mica were the soil clays associated with debris avalanches on serpentinite of the Otter Point Formation. Expandable layer silicates, or those with high charge or water holding capacity were not major constituents although smectite and vermiculite commonly occurred in a thin layer of soil above the underlying support material. The clay fraction of samples from sites undergoing failure by creep and slump did not vary with depth and consisted primarily of smectite. Smectite, chloritic intergrade, dehydrated and hydrated halloysite, and mica were the minerals commonly associated with soil creep and slump on slopes underlain by siltstones of the Tyee Formation. Montmorillonite (smectite) was the major constituent of a large rotational slump at the contact between the Nye Mudstone and Astoria Formation. Hydroxy interlayered smectite, chlorite, and serpentine were identified in sites undergoing creep and slump which are underlain by the serpentinite of the Otter Point Formation. The mineralogy of soils involved in earthflow consisted predominantly of hydrated and dehydrated halloysite, amorphous material, and chloritic intergrade. No difference in mineralogy could be detected between sites underlain by siltstones of the Tyee and Nestucca Formations and tuffaceous siltstones and tuff of the Siletz River Volcanic Series. Surface samples were more poorly crystallized than samples taken at greater depths. Hydrated halloysite, however, was more evident in lower horizons. Electron micrographs reveal an abundance of amorphous gels, and "coatings" on the surface of mineral grains. The abundance of "pores" may account for the fluid behavior of these materials during failure. On all bedrock units, the mineralogy did not vary between actively failing sites and sites on the same slope considered to be "stable." The kind of mass movement and the mineralogy of sites underlain by serpentinite did depend on slope position. Creep and slump were common in poorly drained toeslope positions and contained smectite; debris avalanches were common in well-drained uplands, these soils contained serpentine and chlorite

Physical and hydrologic properties of outcrop samples from a nonwelded to welded tuff transition, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Quantitative material-property data are needed to describe lateral and vertical spatial variability of physical and hydrologic properties and to model ground-water flow and radionuclide transport at the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository site in Nevada. As part of on-going site characterization studies of Yucca Mountain directed toward this understanding of spatial variability, laboratory measurements of porosity, bulk and particle density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and sorptivity have been obtained for a set of outcrop samples that form a systematic, two-dimensional grid that covers a large exposure of the basal Tiva Canyon Tuff of the Paintbrush Group of Miocene age at Yucca Mountain. The samples form a detailed vertical grid roughly parallel to the transport direction of the parent ash flows, and they exhibit material-property variations in an interval of major lithologic change overlying a potential nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The observed changes in hydrologic properties were systematic and consistent with the changes expected for the nonwelded to welded transition at the base of a major ash-flow sequence. Porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and sorptivity decreased upward from the base of the Tiva Canyon Tuff, indicating the progressive compaction of ash-rich volcanic debris and the onset of welding with increased overburden pressure from the accumulating ash-flow sheet. The rate of decrease in the values of these material properties varied with vertical position within the transition interval. In contrast, bulk-density values increased upward, a change that also is consistent with progressive compaction and the onset of welding. Particle-density values remained almost constant throughout the transition interval, probably indicating compositional (chemical) homogeneity

DETECTING AND QUANTIFYING REDUCTIVE DECHLORINATION DURING MONITORED NATURAL ATTENUATION AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER CBRP SITE

Various attenuation mechanisms control the destruction, stabilization, and/or removal of contaminants from contaminated subsurface systems. Measuring the rates of the controlling attenuation mechanisms is a key to employing mass balance as a means to evaluate and monitor the expansion, stability and subsequent shrinkage of a contaminant plume. A team of researchers investigated the use of push-pull tests for measuring reductive dechlorination rates in situ at sites with low chlorinated solvent concentrations (<1 ppm). The field research also examined the synergistic use of a suite of geochemical and microbial assays. Previous push-pull tests applied to environmental remediation objectives focused on general hydrological characterization or on designing bioremediation systems by examining the response of the subsurface to stimulation. In this research, the push-pull technique was tested to determine its ''low-range'' sensitivity and uncertainty. Can these tests quantify relatively low attenuation rates representative of natural attenuation? The results of this research indicate that push-pull testing will be useful for measurement of in situ reductive dechlorination rates for chlorinated solvents at ''Monitored Natural Attenuation'' (MNA) sites. Further, using principal component analysis and other techniques, the research confirmed the usefulness of multiple lines of evidence in site characterization and in upscaling measurements made in individual wells--especially for sites where there is a geochemical gradient or varying geochemical regimes within the contaminant plume

In situ mobility of uranium in the presence of nitrate following sulfate-reducing conditions

Reoxidation and mobilization of previously reduced and immobilized uranium by dissolved-phase oxidants poses a significant challenge for remediating uranium-contaminated groundwater. Preferential oxidation of reduced sulfur-bearing species, as opposed to reduced uranium-bearing species, has been demonstrated to limit the mobility of uranium at the laboratory scale yet field-scale investigations are lacking. In this study, the mobility of uranium in the presence of nitrate oxidant was investigated in a shallow groundwater system after establishing conditions conducive to uranium reduction and the formation of reduced sulfur-bearing species. A series of three injections of groundwater (200 L) containing U(VI) (5 μM) and amended with ethanol (40 mM) and sulfate (20 mM) were conducted in ten test wells in order to stimulate microbial-mediated reduction of uranium and the formation of reduced sulfur-bearing species. Simultaneous push‐pull tests were then conducted in triplicate well clusters to investigate the mobility of U(VI) under three conditions: 1) high nitrate (120 mM), 2) high nitrate (120 mM) with ethanol (30 mM), and 3) low nitrate (2 mM) with ethanol (30 mM). Dilution-adjusted breakthrough curves of ethanol, nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and U(VI) suggested that nitrate reduction was predominantly coupled to the oxidation of reduced-sulfur bearing species, as opposed to the reoxidation of U(IV), under all three conditions for the duration of the 36-day tests. The amount of sulfate, but not U(VI), recovered during the push‐pull tests was substantially more than injected, relative to bromide tracer, under all three conditions and further suggested that reduced sulfur-bearing species were preferentially oxidized under nitrate-reducing conditions. However, some reoxidation of U(IV) was observed under nitrate-reducing conditions and in the absence of detectable nitrate and/or nitrite. This suggested that reduced sulfur-bearing species may not be fully effective at limiting the mobility of uranium in the presence of dissolved and/or solid-phase oxidants. The results of this field study confirmed those of previous laboratory studies which suggested that reoxidation of uranium under nitrate-reducing conditions can be substantially limited by preferential oxidation of reduced sulfur-bearing species.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Elsevier. It can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-contaminant-hydrology/Keywords: Oxidation, Sulfate, Mobility, Reduction, Uranium, Nitrat

Factors Controlling In Situ Uranium and Technetium Bioreductionat the NABIR Field Research Center

This research hypotheses is: (1) Indigenous microorganisms in the shallow aquifer at the FRC have the capability to reduce U(VI) and Tc(VII) but rates are limited by--Scarce electron donor, Low pH and potentially toxic metals, and High nitrate. (2) U(VI) and Tc(VII) reduction rates can be increased by--Successive donor additions, Raising pH to precipitate toxic metals, and Adding humics to complex toxic metals and serve as electron shuttles

Fine-Scale in Situ Measurement of Riverbed Nitrate Production and Consumption in an Armored Permeable Riverbed

Alteration of the global nitrogen cycle by man has increased nitrogen loading in waterways considerably, often with harmful consequences for aquatic ecosystems. Dynamic redox conditions within riverbeds support a variety of nitrogen transformations, some of which can attenuate this burden. In reality, however, assessing the importance of processes besides perhaps denitrification is difficult, due to a sparseness of data, especially in situ, where sediment structure and hydrologic pathways are intact. Here we show in situ within a permeable riverbed, through injections of 15N-labeled substrates, that nitrate can be either consumed through denitrification or produced through nitrification, at a previously unresolved fine (centimeter) scale. Nitrification and denitrification occupy different niches in the riverbed, with denitrification occurring across a broad chemical gradient while nitrification is restricted to more oxic sediments. The narrow niche width for nitrification is in effect a break point, with the switch from activity “on” to activity “off” regulated by interactions between subsurface chemistry and hydrology. Although maxima for denitrification and nitrification occur at opposing ends of a chemical gradient, high potentials for both nitrate production and consumption can overlap when groundwater upwelling is strong

Mineralization of ancient carbon in the subsurface of riparian forests

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (2008): G02021, doi:10.1029/2007JG000482.Microbial activity in saturated, subsurface sediments in riparian forests may be supported by recent photosynthate or ancient (>500 ybp) soil organic carbon (SOC) in buried horizons. Metabolism of ancient SOC may be particularly important in riparian zones, considered denitrification hot spots, because denitrification in the riparian subsurface is often C-limited, because buried horizons intersect deep flow paths, and because low C mineralization rates can support ecosystem-relevant rates of denitrification. Buried horizons are common where alluvial processes (stream migration, overbank flow) have dominated riparian evolution. Our objectives were to determine: (1) the extent to which ancient SOC directly supports subsurface microbial activity; (2) whether different C sources support microbial activity in alluvial versus glaciofluvial riparian zones; and (3) how microbial use of ancient SOC varies with depth. In situ groundwater incubations and 14C dating of dissolved inorganic carbon revealed that ancient SOC mineralization was common, and that it constituted 31–100% of C mineralization 2.6 m deep at one site, at rates sufficient to influence landscape N budgets. Our data failed to reveal consistent spatial patterns of microbially available ancient C. Although mineralized C age increased with depth at one alluvial site, we observed ancient C metabolism 150 cm deep at a glaciofluvial site, suggesting that subsurface microbial activity in riparian zones does not vary systematically between alluvial and glaciofluvial hydrogeologic settings. These findings underscore the relevance of ancient C to contemporary ecosystem processes and the challenge of using mappable surface features to identify subsurface ecosystem characteristics or riparian zone N-sink strength.We are grateful to the Cornell Program in Biogeochemistry for graduate research grants and to the U.S. EPA for a STAR Graduate Fellowship to Noel Gurwick. Support for radiocarbon analyses also came from USDANRICGP grant 99–35102– 8266, NSF cooperative agreement OCE-9807266, and an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to the Institute of Ecosystem Studies. A graduate research grant to N. Gurwick from the Theresa Heinz Scholars for Environmental Research provided salary for Pete Seitz-Rundlett

Bar-Coded Pyrosequencing Reveals the Responses of PBDE-Degrading Microbial Communities to Electron Donor Amendments

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) can be reductively degraded by microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. However, little is known about the effect of electron donors on microbial communities involved in PBDEs degradation. Here we employed 454 Titanium pyrosequencing to examine the phylogenetic diversity, composition, structure and dynamics of microbial communities from microcosms under the conditions of different electron donor amendments. The community structures in each of the five alternate electron donor enrichments were significantly shifted in comparison with those of the control microcosm. Commonly existing OTUs between the treatment and control consortia increased from 5 to 17 and more than 50% of OTUs increased around 13.7 to 186 times at least in one of the microcosms after 90-days enrichment. Although the microbial communities at different taxonomic levels were significantly changed by different environmental variable groups in redundancy analysis, significant correlations were observed between the microbial communities and PBDE congener profiles. The lesser-brominated PBDE congeners, tri-BDE congener (BDE-32) and hexa-BDE, were identified as the key factors shaping the microbial community structures at OTU level. Some rare populations, including the known dechlorinating bacterium, Dehalobacter, showed significant positive-correlation with the amounts of PBDE congeners in the consortia. The same results were also observed on some unclassified bacteria. These results suggest that PBDEs-degrading microbial communities can be successfully enriched, and their structures and compositions can be manipulated through adjusting the environmental parameters

Isotopic techniques to measure N2O, N2 and their sources

GHG emissions are usually the result of several simultaneous processes. Furthermore, some gases such as N2 are very difficult to quantify and require special techniques. Therefore, in this chapter, the focus is on stable isotope methods. Both natural abundance techniques and enrichment techniques are used. Especially in the last decade, a number of methodological advances have been made. Thus, this chapter provides an overview and description of a number of current state-of-theart techniques, especially techniques using the stable isotope 15N. Basic principles and recent advances of the 15N gas flux method are presented to quantify N2 fluxes, but also the latest isotopologue and isotopomer methods to identify pathways for N2O production. The second part of the chapter is devoted to 15N tracing techniques, the theoretical background and recent methodological advances. A range of different methods is presented from analytical to numerical tools to identify and quantify pathway-specific N2O emissions. While this chapter is chiefly concerned with gaseous N emissions, a lot of the techniques can also be applied to other gases such as methane (CH4), as outlined in Sect. 5.3