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The objective of this study was to determine whether activated char produced from Illinois coal could be used effectively to remove sulfur dioxide from coal combustion flue gas. Chars were prepared from a high-volatile Illinois bituminous coal under a wide range of pyrolysis and activation conditions. A novel char preparation...

Crude oil spilled from a subsurface pipeline in north-central Minnesota has dissolved in the groundwater, resulting in the formation of a plume of aliphatic, aromatic, and alicyclic hydrocarbons. Comparison of paired oil and groundwater samples collected along the central axis of the residual oil body shows that the trailing edge...

A survey of the chemical quality of ground water in the unconsolidated alluvial aquifer beneath a major urban center (Denver, Colorado, USA) was performed in 1993 with the objective of characterizing the quality of shallow ground-water in the urban area and relating water quality to land use. Thirty randomly selected...

The distribution of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases in the unsaturated zone provides a geochemical signature of aerobic hydrocarbon degradation at petroleum product spill sites. The fluxes of these gases are proportional to the rate of aerobic biodegradation and are quantified by calibrating a mathematical transport model to the oxygen...

The Buller Coalfield on the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand, contains the Eocene Brunner Coal Measures. The coal measures unconformably overlie Paleozoic-Cretaceous basement rocks and are conformably overlain by, and laterally interfinger with, the Eocene marine Kaiata Formation. This study examines the lithofacies frameworks of the coal...

A 6 mm-diameter dark spherule, 15434,28, from the regolith on the Apennine Front at the Apollo 15 landing site has a homogeneous glass interior with a 200 ??m-thick rind of devitrified or crystallized melt. The rind contains abundant small fragments of Apollo 15 olivine-normative mare basalt and rare volcanic Apollo...

The structures and textures of the rhyolite in the Mule Creek vent (New Mexico, USA) indicate mechanisms by which volatiles escape from silicic magma during eruption. The vent outcrop is a 300-m-high canyon wall comprising a section through the top of a feeder conduit, vent and the base of an...

Sediment traps are being used in some pollution monitoring programs in the USA to sample suspended solids for contaminant analyses. This monitoring approach assumes that the characteristics of solids obtained in sediment traps are the same as those collected in whole-water sampling devices. We tested this...

While human exploration of Mars is unlikely to be undertaken for science reasons alone, science will be the main beneficiary. A wide range of science problems can be addressed at Mars. The planet formed in a different part of the solar system from the Earth and retains clues concerning compositional...

The applicability of the reflectance micro-Fourier Transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) technique for analyzing the distribution of functional groups in coal macerals is discussed. High quality of spectra, comparable to those obtained using other FTIR techniques (KBr pellet and transmission micro-FTIR), indicate this technique can be applied to characterizing functional groups...

The Silsilah tin deposit (lat 25 degrees 06' N, long 42 degrees 40' E) consists of a group of pervasively greisenized, flat-topped granite cupolas within a 12-km-diam ring complex. The greisens contain varying amounts of disseminated cassiterite and wolframite. Several types of quartz veins are peripheral to the greisens; some...

Chlorinated organic solvents introduced to unlined lagoons at an industrial waste-water treatment plant in the Inner Piedmont of South Carolina resulted in ground-water contamination of a fractured-rock aquifer. Part of the ground-water contamination discharges to Little Rocky Creek, downgradient from the waste-water treatment plant. Passive...

The specific hydrogenotrophic activity of anaerobic sludges is usually assayed by gas chromatographic analysis for methane in the headspace of sealed test vials. Gas is sampled with a pressure lock syringe which allows quantification independent of the pressure prevailing in the vials. An alternative method was developed using pressure transducer...

We examined the temporal and vertical distribution of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and un-ionized ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) in sediment pore water and compared the temporal patterns of TAN and NH3-N concentrations in overlying surface water with those in pore water. Pore water was obtained by core extraction and subsequent centrifugation....

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments require fuel oxygenates to be added to gasoline used in some metropolitan areas to reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon monoxide or ozone. Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is the most commonly used fuel oxygenate and is a relatively new gasoline additive. Nevertheless, out of 60...

As a comparison to airborne infrared (IR) flux measurements, ground-based sampling of fumarole and soil gases was used to characterize the quiescent degassing of CO2 from Oldoinyo Lengai volcano. Aerial and ground-based measurements are in good agreement: ∼75% of the aerially measured CO2 flux at Lengai (0.05–0.06 × 1012 mol yr−1 or 6000–7200 tonnes...

Infiltration into and drainage from facilities for the disposal of low-level radioactive wastes is considered the major process by which non-volatile contaminants are transported away from the facilities. The session included 10 papers related to the processes of infiltration and drainage, and to the simulation of flow and transport through...

Large amounts of the 'fuel-oxygenate' compound methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) are currently being used in gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide and ozone in urban air and to boost fuel octane. Because MTBE can be transported to surface waters in various ways, established theory was used to calculate half-lives for MTBE volatilizing...

Ground water from 48 wells and 1 spring in the Caguas-Juncos Valley was sampled and analyzed for major ions, nutrients, trace metals, and volatile synthetic organic chemicals from April to October 1990. This report presents the results of physical and chemical analyses made on these water samples. Dissolved-solids concentrations exceeded 500...

The Fischer and Porter Company Superfund Site is underlain by sedimentary rocks of the Upper Triassic Stockton Formation, which consists of interbedded siltstone, very-fine grained to coarse-grained sandstone, and conglomerate in crudely defined, upward fining cycles. These rocks form a complex, heterogeneous, leaky, multiaquifer system comprised of a series of...

The U.S. Geological Survey compiled and summarized analyses of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) in surface and ground water from water-quality data bases maintained by-Federal, State, and local agencies as part of a retrospective analysis of water-quality data for the Upper Mississippi River Basin study unit of the National WaterQuality Assessment...

Ground-water-quality-monitoring sites have been established in compliance with the 1991 West Virginia "Groundwater Protection Act." One of the provisions of the "Groundwater Protection Act" is to conduct ground-water sampling, data collection, analyses, and evaluation with sufficient frequency so as to ascertain the characteristics and quality of ground water and...

Bottom sediments from 25 stream sites in Jefferson County, Ky., were analyzed for percent volatile solids and concentrations of nutrients, major metals, trace elements, miscellaneous inorganic compounds, and selected organic compounds. Statistical high outliers of the constituent concentrations analyzed for in the bottom sediments were defined as a measure of...

Reconnaissance limnological and lakebed-sediment surveys were conducted in Connecticut during 1989-91 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protec- tion, to evaluate water-quality characteristics of selected public recreational lakes and ponds in the State. Limnological surveys were conducted on 49 lakes and ponds selected...

Ten monitoring well were installed in May 1993 to collect data on the hydrogeology and ground-water quality beneath Country Pond, in Kingston, New Hampshire. Monitoring wells were installed 4 to 48 feet beneath the pond surface in stratified drift that was up to 40 feet thick. The stratified drift is...