| Wednesday, April 2, 2008: 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. | |||
| Ballroom B (Memphis Cook Convention Center) | |||
| Geochemical Evaluations of Metals in Ground Water and Surface Water | |||
| Do you really have metals contamination in groundwater or surface water at your site? This short course helps answer that question. It is well known that trace elements adsorb on specific suspended particulates (e.g., clays, iron oxides) under certain geochemical conditions. Under oxidizing, circumneutral pH conditions, this adsorption affinity typically yields strong correlations between trace elements versus aluminum or iron. These relationships are visualized with scatter plots of trace versus major element concentrations. Consistent elemental ratios are observed for uncontaminated samples; contaminated samples are identified by anomalously high elemental ratios. Additional factors considered include pH, redox effects, aqueous complexation, and salinity gradients. In contrast to purely statistical approaches, geochemical evaluations reduce false-positive declarations of contamination, do not require statistically valid background data sets, and provide mechanistic explanations for elevated concentrations. Insightful case studies are presented from the instructors’ work at numerous sites across the U.S. | |||
| Organizers: | Jonathan Myers, Ph.D., Shaw Environmental Inc. Karen Thorbjornsen, Shaw Environmental Inc | ||