Understanding the geochemical and microbiological processes that control the migration, shape, and size of contaminant plumes is key to developing cost-effective remediation plans. Many USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program scientists have studied a variety of contaminant plumes with the goal of understanding in a holistic sense how contaminant plumes interact with ground water, microorganisms, and aquifer materials. The information presented on this page cuts across lines drawn by individual investigations and projects so that information on the contaminant plume geochemistry and microbiology can be presented in one place.

Investigations and Research Activities

• Subsurface Point-Source Contamination, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program investigations of common classes of subsurface point-source contamination at representative sites
• Sewage-Contaminated Ground Water, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
• Crude Oil Contamination in the Shallow Subsurface, Bemidji, Minnesota
• Processes Affecting the Natural Attenuation of Fuel Oxygenates in Ground Water Fuel, Laurel Bay, South Carolina
• Fate of Landfill Leachate, Norman Municipal Landfill, Norman, Oklahoma
• Organic Compounds in Near-Surface Environments: Understanding Fate in a Changing Biogeochemical Landscape
• Microbiology and Molecular Ecology of Biogeochemical Cycles in Aquatic Environments
• Multiphase Contaminant Transport, Reaction And Biodegradation
• Bacteria - Contaminant Interactions
• Comparative Study of Organic Degradation in Selected Hydrologic Environments
• Transport and Biogeochemical Fate of Organic Substances in Aquatic Environments
• Hydrogeochemical and Microbiological Investigations of Radionuclides, Nutrients, and Environmental Contaminants.
• Geochemical Studies at the Norman Landfill
• Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Chemical Evolution in Ground-Water Systems
• Partitioning of Solutes between Solid and Aqueous Phases
• Fate of Organic Chemicals in Subsurface Environments
• Biogeochemistry of Carbon and Nitrogen in Aquatic Environments

Fact Sheets

• The Norman landfill environmental research site--What happens to the waste in landfills?: USGS Fact Sheet 040-03
• Ground water contamination by crude oil near Bemidji, Minnesota: USGS Fact Sheet FS-084-98
• Bioremediation--Nature's way to a cleaner environment: USGS Fact Sheet FS-O54-95

A handful of sand from aquifer sediments on western Cape Cod, MA. The surfaces of these quartz grains are covered by coatings containing iron and aluminum oxides and silicates. Arsenic in the coatings can be released by changes in chemical conditions caused by contaminant plumes such as the plume of treated sewage that is the subject of the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program's investigation on Cape Cod
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Geochemical zones in the plume of dissolved constituents at the Bemidji Crude Oil Spill Site, Minnesota
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Headlines

• New Report Presents a Framework for Assessing the Sustainability of Monitored Natural Attenuation
• Challenging a Paradigm: MTBE Shown to Degrade to TBA Without Microorganisms
• What Mobilizes Arsenic in Ground Water
• Land-Use Activities Release Naturally Occurring Arsenic
• The Changing Face of Microbial Communities in Contaminant Plumes
• A Unique Approach to Evaluating Natural Attenuation is Applied Worldwide
• How Do You Clean Up Gasoline Spills Naturally?
• Relying on Nature to Clean Up Contaminated Ground Water
• Natural Attenuation for Groundwater Remediation
• Can a Sewage-Contaminated Aquifer Naturally Clean Itself?

Bibliography

• Publications on Contaminant Plume Geochemistry and Microbiology (478 Publications)

New Publications

• Distinguishing iron-reducing from sulfate-reducing conditions: Chapelle, F.H., Bradley, P.M., Thomas, M.A., and McMahon, P.B., 2009, Ground Water, v. 47, no. 2, p. 300-305, doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2008.00536.x.
• Biogeochemistry at a wetland sediment-alluvial aquifer interface in a landfill leachate plume: Lorah, M.M., Cozzarelli, I.M., and Böhlke, J.K., 2009, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, v. 105, no. 3-4, p. 99-117, doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2008.11.008.

Sampling redox-sensitive water-quality parameters on-site at the Norman Landfill, Norman, Oklahoma
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