Hydrochemical and isotopic effects associated with petroleum fuel biodegradation pathways in a chalk aquifer

Spence, Michael; Bottrell, Simon H.; Thornton, Steven F.; Richnow, Hans H.; Spence, Keith H.

doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2005.06.003

Cited by 83 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The CSIA-based approach has found acceptance as a tool for delineating natural attenuation in groundwater systems [49,[72][73][74][75][76]. Field studies have been reported for a number of pollutants and compound classes, for example chlorinated aliphatic, olefinic, and aromatic compounds [39,73,77], monoaromatic compounds [78][79][80][81], polyaromatic compounds [82], ethers [72,83], or triazine rings [84] (overviews are available elsewhere [44,61]). However, considering the large number of environmentally relevant (micro)pollutants, the potential of CSIA investigations is far from being explored.…”

Section: Field Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current challenges in compound-specific stable isotope analysis of environmental organic contaminants

et al. 2012

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Compound-specific stable-isotope analysis (CSIA) has greatly facilitated assessment of sources and transformation processes of organic pollutants. Multielement isotope analysis is one of the most promising applications of CSIA because it even enables distinction of different transformation pathways. This review introduces the essential features of continuous-flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and highlights current challenges in environmental analysis as exemplified for the isotopes of nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorine, and oxygen. Strategies and recent advances to enable isotopic measurements of polar contaminants, for example pesticides or pharmaceuticals, are discussed with special emphasis on possible solutions for analysis of low concentrations of contaminants in environmental matrices. Finally, we discuss different levels of calibration and referencing and point out the urgent need for compound-specific isotope standards for gas chromatography-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) of organic pollutants.

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Section: Field Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current challenges in compound-specific stable isotope analysis of environmental organic contaminants

et al. 2012

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“…The microbial reduction of sulfate (Reaction 5) can produce significant levels of toxic and corrosive sulfide (Bottrell et al, 2000a;McMahon and Chapelle, 2008). These respiration reactions also describe the various biodegradation processes that are important for the natural attenuation of many hydrocarbon contaminants in groundwater (Smith, 1990;Wiedermeier et al, 1999;Thornton et al, 2001;Spence et al, 2005a). Understanding the mechanisms that control these reactions in the subsurface is thus essential in order to predict the impact of microbially mediated processes on groundwater quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lithological controls on biological activity and groundwater chemistry in Quaternary sediments

Bartlett

Bottrell

Sinclair³

et al. 2009

Hydrological Processes

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Abstract:Depth profiles of solute chemistry and sulfate isotopic compositions are presented for groundwater and pore water in a sequence of Quaternary glacial outwash sediments. Sand units show evidence for hydraulic connection to the surface and thus modern sources of solutes. Finer-grained sediments show a general pattern of increasing solute concentrations with depth, with sulfate derived from ancient rainwater and pyrite oxidation in the soil/drift. In these sediments sulfate has undergone bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) to produce biogenic sulfide. In clay sediments, with d 10 Ä 1Ð6 µm, high concentrations of sulfate and acetate now co-exist, implying that BSR is inhibited. The correlation with smaller sediment grain size indicates that this is due to pore size exclusion of the sulfate reducing bacteria. Mechanical restriction of microbial function thus provides a fundamental limitation on microbial respiration in buried clay-rich sediments, which acts as a control on the chemical evolution of their pore waters.

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“…Microbial degradation of these compounds could be restricted by competition for electron acceptors from other hydrocarbons and toluene. Thus, for example, the lack of biodegradation of MTBE at anaerobic conditions in the presence of BTEX compounds was demonstrated earlier (Spence et al 2005). Significant decrease of the MTBE and BTEX concentrations in the interval 94-106 cm below the water table, possibly, originates from the presence of some barrier (for example, clay layer) in the water flow path.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Natural attenuation of MTBE and BTEX compounds in a petroleum contaminated shallow coastal aquifer

Gelman

Binstock

2007

Environ Chem Lett

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Natural attenuation of MTBE and BTEX compounds in a petroleum contaminated coastal aquifer in the Tel-Aviv area was investigated. Significant decrease in MTBE concentration and complete disappearance of BTEX compounds occur within 100 m groundwater flow. Highly anaerobic conditions were determined in the close vicinity to the spill source. In order to examine the contribution of microbial degradation to the attenuation process at anaerobic conditions, compound-specific carbon isotope ratio analysis was employed. Carbon isotope enrichment of toluene up to 2.4% along with the drop in its concentration up to 80% was observed within 20 cm below the water table. The lack of isotope fractionation despite the significant concentration decrease for other studied compounds indicates significant contribution of abiotic processes to the natural attenuation.

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Hydrochemical and isotopic effects associated with petroleum fuel biodegradation pathways in a chalk aquifer

Cited by 83 publications

References 20 publications

Current challenges in compound-specific stable isotope analysis of environmental organic contaminants

Current challenges in compound-specific stable isotope analysis of environmental organic contaminants

Lithological controls on biological activity and groundwater chemistry in Quaternary sediments

Natural attenuation of MTBE and BTEX compounds in a petroleum contaminated shallow coastal aquifer

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