Community Engaged Cumulative Risk Assessment of Exposure to Inorganic Well Water Contaminants, Crow Reservation, Montana

An estimated 11 million people in the US have home wells with unsafe levels of hazardous metals and nitrate. The national scope of the health risk from consuming this water has not been assessed as home wells are largely unregulated and data on well water treatment and consumption are lacking. Here, we assessed health risks from consumption of contaminated well water on the Crow Reservation by conducting a community-engaged, cumulative risk assessment. Well water testing, surveys and interviews were used to collect data on contaminant concentrations, water treatment methods, well water consumption, and well and septic system protection and maintenance practices. Additive Hazard Index calculations show that the water in more than 39% of wells is unsafe due to uranium, manganese, nitrate, zinc and/or arsenic. Most families’ financial resources are limited, and 95% of participants do not employ water treatment technologies. Despite widespread high total dissolved solids, poor taste and odor, 80% of families consume their well water. Lack of environmental health literacy about well water safety, pre-existing health conditions and limited environmental enforcement also contribute to vulnerability. Ensuring access to safe drinking water and providing accompanying education are urgent public health priorities for Crow and other rural US families with low environmental health literacy and limited financial resources

The Legacy of Uranium Development on or Near Indian Reservations and Health Implications Rekindling Public Awareness

Uranium occurrence and development has left a legacy of long-lived health effects for many Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States. Some Native American communities have been impacted by processing and development while others are living with naturally occurring sources of uranium. The uranium production peak spanned from approximately 1948 to the 1980s. Thousands of mines, mainly on the Colorado Plateau, were developed in the western U.S. during the uranium boom. Many of these mines were abandoned and have not been reclaimed. Native Americans in the Colorado Plateau area including the Navajo, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain, Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and several other Pueblo nations, with their intimate knowledge of the land, often led miners to uranium resources during this exploration boom. As a result of the mining activity many Indian Nations residing near areas of mining or milling have had and continue to have their health compromised. This short review aims to rekindle the public awareness of the plight of Native American communities living with the legacy of uranium procurement, including mining, milling, down winders, nuclear weapon development and long term nuclear waste storage

Structural Controls and ChemicalCharacterization of Brecciation and UraniumVanadium Mineralization in the Northern Bighorn Basin

The goals of this research were to determine if the mode of mineralization and the geology of two abandoned uranium and vanadium mining districts that border the Crow Reservation might be a source for contaminants in the Bighorn River and a source of elevated uranium in home water wells on the Reservation. Surface and spring waters of the Crow Reservation have always been greatly respected by the Crow people, valued as a source of life and health and relied upon for drinking water. Upon learning that the Bighorn River has an EPA 303d impaired water listing due to elevated lead and mercury and that mercury has been detected in the fish from rivers of the Crow Reservation this study was implemented. Watersheds from both mining districts contribute to the Bighorn River that flows through the Crow Reservation. Initial research used the National Uranium Resource Evaluation database to analyze available geochemistry for the study areas using GIS. The data showed elevated concentrations of lead in drainages related to the mining areas. The data also showed elevated uranium in many of the surface waters and wells that were tested as a part of the study on the Crow Reservation. The author attended meetings and presented results of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation data analyses to the Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee. Thus, both uranium and lead were added to the list of elements that were being tested in home water wells as part of a community based participatory research project addressing many issues of water quality on the Crow Reservation. Results from home wells tested on the reservation did show elevated uranium. Rock samples were collected in the study areas and geochemically analyzed. The results of the analyses support a Permian Phosphoria Formation oil source of metals in the two mining districts. Structural data support fracturing accompanied by tectonic hydrothermal brecciation as a process that introduced oil and brines from the Bighorn Basin into the deposits where the uranium vanadium deposits later formed

Possible Involvement of Permian Phosphoria Formation Oil as a Source of REE and Other Metals Associated with Complex U-V Mineralization in the Northern Bighorn Basin?

The origin of V, U, REE and other metals in the Permian Phosphoria Formation have been speculated and studied by numerous scientists. The exceptionally high concentrations of metals have been interpreted to reflect fundamental transitions from anoxic to oxic marine conditions. Much of the oil in the Bighorn Basin, is sourced by the Phosphoria Formation. Two of the top 10 producing oil fields in Wyoming are located approximately 50 km west of two abandoned U-V mining districts in the northern portion of the basin. These fields produce from basin margin anticlinal structures from Mississippian age reservoir rock. Samples collected from abandoned U-V mines and prospects hosted in Mississippian aged paleokarst in Montana and Wyoming have hydrocarbon residue present and contain anomalous high concentrations of many metals that are found in similar concentrations in the Phosphoria Formation. As, Hg, Mo, Pb, Tl, U, V and Zn, often metals of environmental concern occur in high concentrations in Phosphoria Formation samples and had values ranging from 30–1295 ppm As, 0.179–12.8 ppm Hg, 2–791 ppm Mo, <2–146 ppm Pb, 10–490 ppm Tl, 907–86,800 ppm U, 1240–18,900 ppm V, and 7–2230 ppm Zn, in mineralized samples from this study. The REE plus Y composition of Madison Limestone- and limestone breccia hosted-bitumen reflect similar patterns to both mineralized samples from this study and to U.S. Geological Survey rock samples from studies of the Phosphoria Formation. Geochemical, mineralogical and field data were used to investigate past theories for mineralization of these deposits to determine if U present in home wells and Hg content of fish from rivers on the proximal Crow Indian Reservation may have been derived from these deposits or related to their mode of mineralization

Multicultural Pre-Professoriate Fellowship (MPF) Program Spring Diversity Dialogue

Multicultural Pre-Professoriate Fellowship (MPF) Program Spring Diversity Dialogue. Participants in the MPF Program discuss their research. Anita Moore-Nall (Health Sciences/ Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies) presents her research for a medical geology text book on water issues that affect Indigenous People of North America. Heidi Senungetuk (Alaska Native Studies) presents "Sounding Indigenous: Contemporary Inupiaq Expressions” which highlights the creativity of the Kingikmiut Singers and Dancers of Anchorage. Amana Mbise (Social Work) presents his work on children's rights and rights based approaches to working with children. His PhD research looked at the adoption of rights based approaches by child rights NGO's in Tanzania. This event is sponsored by the UAA Faculty Senate Diversity Committee and is hosted by Thomas Chung

The first dinosaur egg was soft

Calcified eggshell protect developing embryos against environmental stress and contributes toreproductive success. Since modern crocodilians and birds lay hard-shelled eggs, this eggshelltype has also been inferred for nonavian dinosaurs. Known dinosaur eggshell is characterized byan innermost membrane, an overlying protein matrix containing calcite, and an outermost waxycuticle. The calcitic eggshell consists of one or more ultrastructural layers that, along withrespiratory pore configurations, differs drastically across the three major dinosaur clades. Whileonly hadrosaurid, derived sauropod, and tetanuran eggshells have been discovered to date,missing fossil eggshells covering the phylogenetic gaps between these taxa challenge efforts tohomologize eggshell across all dinosaurs. We present mineralogical, organochemical, andultrastructural evidence for an originally non-biomineralized, soft-shelled nature of exceptionallypreserved ornithischian Protoceratops and basal sauropodomorph Mussaurus eggs. Statisticalevaluation of in situ organic phase Raman spectra obtained for a representative set of hard- andsoft-shelled, fossil and extant diapsid eggshells, clusters the originally organic, but secondarilyphosphatized Protoceratops and the carbonaceous Mussaurus eggshells with soft eggshells.Histology corroborates the organic composition of these two soft-shelled dinosaur eggs,revealing a stratified arrangement resembling soft turtle eggshell. An ancestral statereconstruction of composition and ultrastructure compared eggshells from Protoceratops andMussaurus to those from other archosaurs, and revealed that the first dinosaur egg was softshelled.The calcified dinosaur egg evolved at least three times independently throughout theMesozoic, explaining the bias towards eggshells of highly derived dinosaurs in the fossil record.Fil: Norell, Mark A.. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Weimann, Jasmina. University of Yale; Estados UnidosFil: Fabbri, Matteo. University of Yale; Estados UnidosFil: Yu, Congyu. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Marsicano, Claudia Alicia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Moore Nall, Anita. State University of Montana; Estados UnidosFil: Varricchio, David J.. State University of Montana; Estados UnidosFil: Pol, Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; ArgentinaFil: Zelenitsky, Darla K.. University of Calgary; Canad

Potential Health Risks from Uranium in Home Well Water: An Investigation by the Apsaalooke (Crow) Tribal Research Group

Exposure to uranium can damage kidneys, increase long term risks of various cancers, and cause developmental and reproductive effects. Historically, home well water in Montana has not been tested for uranium. Data for the Crow Reservation from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) database showed that water from 34 of 189 wells tested had uranium over the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 30 μg/L for drinking water. Therefore the Crow Water Quality Project included uranium in its tests of home well water. Volunteers had their well water tested and completed a survey about their well water use. More than 2/3 of the 97 wells sampled had detectable uranium; 6.3% exceeded the MCL of 30 μg/L. Wells downgradient from the uranium-bearing formations in the mountains were at highest risk. About half of all Crow families rely on home wells; 80% of these families consume their well water. An explanation of test results; associated health risks and water treatment options were provided to participating homeowners. The project is a community-based participatory research initiative of Little Big Horn College; the Crow Tribe; the Apsaalooke Water and Wastewater Authority; the local Indian Health Service Hospital and other local stakeholders; with support from academic partners at Montana State University (MSU) Bozeman