Between water and rock -- a new science(ers and groundwater and that are also in...)

Date:11/30/2007

ers and groundwater, and that are also involved in catalysis and organic transformation. And these nanoparticles account for a disproportionately large amount of potentially reactive surface area in the environment. As a result, what was once considered to exist in the dissolved fraction of water can no longer be viewed as such, he said.

Meanwhile, humans are changing the natural nanoparticle distribution with no idea of the consequences. For instance, attempted cleanups can mobilize contamination release downstream or within a contamination plume through nanoparticle transport. And because contaminants are bound to nanoparticles, stability and interaction of contaminants are different than what was once predicted.

Even noninvasive clean-up is problematic, the review reports. Bioremediation of soluble uranium by microorganisms, such as metal-reducing bacteria, is of high interest. But a field study showed a large fraction of unreduced uranium after such an attempt. The complexities behind the fate of metal and radionuclide contaminants during nanoparticle formation make predicting the final products very difficult, said Wigginton, who has worked on this question at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

And the tools that make the study of nanoparticles possible, which include the scanning tunneling microscope, transmission electron microscope (TEM), atomic force microscope, are not part of any field kit.

The article relates two cases from the authors published and yet to be published research.

Due to almost 150 years of copper and silver mining and smelting activities, the Clark Fork River has been contaminated with high levels of toxic metals including arsenic, lead, zinc, and copper. More than 100 million tons of mine waste has been introduced directly into the river and surrounding floodplains.

Toxic metal location, distribution, and transport in the Clark Fork River, the largest EPA Super Fund clean-up sit
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Contact: Susan Trulove STrulove@vt.edu 540-231-5646 Virginia Tech   Source:Eurekalert

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