A new article, On-Off Mobilization of Contaminants in Soils during Redox Oscillations, has been published in Environmental Science & Technology by Ecohydrology Group members Raoul-Marie Couture, Ekaterina Markelova and Chris Parsons in collaboration with Laurent Charlet (University of Grenoble) and Benoît Madé (National Radioactive Waste Management Agency, France).
This study presents a series of controlled bioreactor soil suspension experiments and a mixed kinetic-equilibrium model. The study elucidates the key chemical and microbial processes which influence the mobility of redox sensitive inorganic contaminants (Cr, As, Se, Sb, U) under fluctuating redox conditions. Particularly the paper compares the mobility of individual contaminants to their mobility in mixtures containing multiple contaminants. The results demonstrate the importance of key "switch" elements, the presence or absence of which dramatically alters the mobility of other elements in solution.
Couture, R. M., Charlet, L., Markelova, E., Madé, B., & Parsons, C. T. (2015). On-off mobilization of contaminants in soils during redox oscillations.Environmental science & technology.