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Toxic Substances Hydrology Program

The Toxic Substances Hydrology Program provides objective scientific information on environmental contamination to improve characterization and management of contaminated sites, to protect human and environmental health, and to reduce potential future contamination problems. Read more about the Toxics Program

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Research Projects
Scientists prepare to lower a rosette of 12 Niskin bottles on the vessel R/V Thomas G. Thompson. The device enables the collection of samples in the ocean via remote triggering of each bottle at different depths. Extreme care was taken to ensure that the rosette does not contaminate the samples. Photo courtesy of William Landing, Florida State University.

States with mercury fish consumption advisories (EPA, 2008). Every state has at least one advisory.

USGS scientist measuring pH and other water properties on the banks of Fourmile Creek, Iowa, before collecting a sediment sample for laboratory biodegradation experiments.

Even though this vernal pool in Seminoe State Park, Wyoming will not be wet all year long, it forms critical habitat for many species of wildlife.

USGS scientists collecting gas samples from the unsaturated zone. Subsurface gases are drawn through a small glass tube filled with an adsorbing material, which traps mercury or volatile organic compounds for later analysis.

USGS scientist dissecting a fish to determine possible effects from exposure to endocrine disrupting contaminants

   
     
   
Crosscutting Topics
   
     
   
Photo Gallery
   

Winter-time view of multilevel well sampling array. There are over 10,000 subsurface sampling ports
Winter-time view of multilevel well sampling array. There are over 10,000 subsurface sampling ports -- from the Cape Cod Site

New Publications
   
Meetings

Selected New Publications
Mercury sources, distribution, and bioavailability in the North Pacific Ocean--Insights from data and models: Sunderland, E.M., Krabbenhoft, D.P., Moreau, J.W., Strode, S.A., and Landing, W.M., 2009, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, v. 23, no. 2, p. 1-14, GB2010, doi:10.1029/2008GB003425.

The occurrence of antibiotics in an urban watershed--From wastewater to drinking water: Watkinson, A.J., Murby, E.J., Kolpin, D.W., and Costanzo, S.D., 2009, Science of the Total Environment, v. 407, no. 8, p. 2,711-2,723, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.11.059.

Mercury cycling in stream ecosystems--1. Water column chemistry and transport: Brigham, M.E., Wentz, D.A., Aiken, G.R., and Krabbenhoft, D.P., 2009, Environmental Science and Technology, doi:10.1021/es802694n (Advanced Web release).

Upcoming Publications
MTBE, TBA, and TAME attenuation in diverse hyporheic zones: Landmeyer, J.E., Bradley, P.M., Trego, D.A., Hale, K.G., and II, J.E.H., Ground Water (IN PRESS).

Glypohosate and other pesticides in vernal pools and streams in Parks: Battaglin, W.A., Park Science (IN PRESS).

The effect of planting method on Populus Spp. and Salix Sp. mortality and growth at a petroleum-hydrocarbon contaminated shallow aquifer: Cook, R.L., Landmeyer, J.E., Atkinson, B., Messier, J.P., and Guthrie Nichols, E., International Journal of Phytoremediation (IN PRESS).

   

USGS and Montana Tech of the University of Montana co-sponsor the Special Session Diurnal Biogeochemical Processes in Rivers, Lakes, and Shallow Groundwater at the 2009 GSA Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, October 18-21, 2009

USGS and Colorado State University co-sponsor EmCon2009-2nd International Conference on Occurrence, Fate, Effects, and Analysis of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment, Fort Collins, Colorado, August 4-7, 2009

USGS's Robert Runkel presents the workshop "Quantifying Transient Storage and Hyporheic Exchange using Tracer Techniques and the OTIS Solute Transport Model" during the North American Benthological Society's 57th Annual Meeting, Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 16-23, 2009

USGS and EPA cosponsor the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program National Point Source Research Meeting, San Diego, Calif., January 26-29, 2009

The USGS cosponsors the special session Hydrogeological Research Sites and Observatories at the 2008 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 15-19, 2008

USGS co-sponsors workshop on Diurnal (Diel) Cycling of Chemical Constituents in Surface Water and Related Media—Scientific and Regulatory Considerations, Trenton, New Jersey, December 12, 2008

USGS is co-sponsoring the short course Environmental Fate and Effects of Emerging Contaminants at the SETAC North America 29th Annual Meeting, Tampa, Florida, November 16-20, 2008

USGS sponsors the special session In Situ Approaches for Measuring Biodegradation Potential and Rates in Subsurface Environments at the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, October 5-9, 2008

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