Role of Colloids and Semicrystalline/Amorphous Materials in Environmental Cycling of Trace Metals

A small mountain stream impacted by acid mine drainage, Prospect Gulch, Upper Animas River Watershed, Colorado. Such conditions often facilitate the transport of trace metals (Click on photo for larger version)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sponsored a special session on the "Role of Colloids and Semicrystalline/Amorphous Materials in Environmental Cycling of Trace Metals" (T31) at the Geological Society of America's Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 16-19, 2005. Amorphous/semicrystalline materials composed of iron, aluminum, and manganese minerals help control trace metal(loid) cycling, transport, and mobility in environmental systems. Information describing the nature of these materials and their interactions with trace metal(loid)s was presented at the meeting.

USGS Presentations

• Quantification of the Role of Instream Iron and Aluminum Colloids in the Transport of Copper, by Kimball, Briant A., USGS, Runkel, Robert L., USGS, and Walton-Day, Katherine, USGS
• Mercury Transport in Clear Creek, a Drainage in Northern California Impacted by Historical Gold Mining, by Ashley, Roger P., USGS
• Tungstate Adsorption to Ferrihydrite; Experimental Determination of an Adsorption Constant, by Assam, Jason R., University of Nevada, and Stillings, Lisa L., USGS
• Processes of Zn Attenuation by Biogenic Manganese Oxides Forming in the Hyporheic Zone of Pinal Creek, Arizona, USA, by Fuller, Christopher C., USGS , Bargar, John R., Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, and Webb, Samuel M., Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
• Distributions of Trace and Rare-Earth Elements in the Acid-Extractable Phase of Sediment in the Unsaturated Zone, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho, by Conko, Kathryn M., USGS, and Landa, Edward R., USGS

Conveners

• Katherine Walton-Day, USGS
• Lisa L. Stillings, USGS

Session Information

• General Conference Information
• Full Session Agenda

More Information on The Transport of Trace Metals

• Hard Rock Mining Contamination in Rocky Mountain Terrain -- Upper Arkansas River, Colorado
• Hard Rock Mining Contamination in Arid Southwest Alluvial Basins -- Pinal Creek, Arizona
• USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative
• Coupled Transport and Geochemical Processes Determining the Fate of Chemicals in Surface Waters
• Chemical Modeling and Thermodynamic Data Evaluation of Major and Trace Elements in Acid Mine Waters and Ground Waters
• Partitioning of Solutes between Solid and Aqueous Phases
• Research in Analytical Environmental Trace Element Chemistry and Its Impact on Water Quality
• Biogeochemistry at Regional Scales

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