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PubMed2002

Natural attenuation: what does the subsurface have in store?

Throughout the world, organic and inorganic substances leach into the subsurface as a result of human activities and accidents. There, the chemicals pose direct or indirect threats to the environment and to increasingly scarce drinking water resources. At many contaminated sites the subsurface is able to attenuate pollutants which, potentially, lowers the costs of remediation. Natural attenuation comprises a wide range of processes of which the microbiological component, which is responsible for intrinsic bioremediation, can decrease the mass and toxicity of the contaminants and is, therefore, the most important. Reliance on intrinsic bioremediation requires methods to monitor the process. The subject of this review is how knowledge of subsurface geology and hydrology, microbial ecology and degradation processes is used and can be used to monitor the potential and capacity for intrinsic bioremediation in the subsurface and to verify degradation in situ. As research on natural attenuation in the subsurface has been rather fragmented and limited and often allows only conclusions to be drawn of the site under investigation, we provide a concept based on Environmental Specimen Banking which will contribute to further understanding subsurface natural attenuation processes and will help to develop and implement new monitoring techniques.

Biological Specimen Banks↗

PubMed2002

The role of microbial populations in the containment of aromatic hydrocarbons in the subsurface.

A survey of soil gases associated with gasoline stations on the Swan Coastal Plain of Western Australia has shown that 20% leak detectable amounts of petroleum. The fates of volatile hydrocarbons in the vadose zone at one contaminated site, and dissolved hydrocarbons in groundwater at another site were followed in a number of studies which are herein reviewed. Geochemical evidence from a plume of hydrocarbon-contaminated groundwater has shown that sulfate reduction rapidly developed as the terminal electron accepting process. Toluene degradation but not benzene degradation was linked to sulfate reduction. The sulfate-reducing bacteria isolated from the plume represented a new species, Desulfosporosinus meridiei. Strains of the species do not mineralise 14C-toluene in pure culture. The addition of large numbers of cells and sulfate to microcosms did stimulate toluene mineralisation but not benzene mineralisation. Attempts to follow populations of sulfate-reducing bacteria by phospholipid signatures, or Desulfosporosinus meridiei by FISH in the plume were unsuccessful, but fluorescently-labeled polyclonal antibodies were successfully used. In the vadose zone at a different site, volatile hydrocarbons were consumed in the top 0.5 m of the soil profile. The fastest measured rate of mineralisation of 14C-benzene in soils collected from the most active zone (6.5 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) could account for the majority of the flux of hydrocarbon vapourtowards the surface. The studies concluded that intrinsic remediation by subsurface microbial populations in groundwater on the Swan Coastal Plain can control transport of aromatic hydrocarbon contamination, except for the transport of benzene in groundwater. In the vadose zone, intrinsic remediation by the microbial populations in the soil profile can contain the transport of aromatic hydrocarbons, provided the physical transport of gases, in particular oxygen from the atmosphere, is not impeded by structures.

Biodegradation, Environmental↗

PubMed2002

Assessment of soil contamination--a functional perspective.

In many industrialized countries the use of land is impeded by soil pollution from a variety of sources. Decisions on clean-up, management or set-aside of contaminated land are based on various considerations, including human health risks, but ecological arguments do not have a strong position in such assessments. This paper analyses why this should be so, and what ecotoxicology and theoretical ecology can improve on the situation. It seems that soil assessment suffers from a fundamental weakness, which relates to the absence of a commonly accepted framework that may act as a reference. Soil contamination can be assessed both from a functional perspective and a structural perspective. The relationship between structure and function in ecosystems is a fundamental question of ecology which receives a lot of attention in recent literature, however, a general concept that may guide ecotoxicological assessments has not yet arisen. On the experimental side, a good deal of progress has been made in the development and standardized use of terrestrial model ecosystems (TME). In such systems, usually consisting of intact soil columns incubated in the laboratory under conditions allowing plant growth and drainage of water, a compromise is sought between field relevance and experimental manageability. A great variety of measurements can be made on such systems, including microbiological processes and activities, but also activities of the decomposer soil fauna. I propose that these TMEs can be useful instruments in ecological soil quality assessments. In addition a "bioinformatics approach" to the analysis of data obtained in TME experiments is proposed. Soil function should be considered as a multidimensional concept and the various measurements can be considered as indicators, whose combined values define the "normal operating range" of the system. Deviations from the normal operating range indicate that the system is in a condition of stress. It is hoped that more work along this line will improve the prospects for ecological arguments in soil quality assessment.

Computational Biology↗

PubMed2002

Assessment of in-situ bioremediation at a refinery waste-contaminated site and an aviation gasoline contaminated site.

A combination of geochemical, microbiological and isotopic methods were used to evaluate in-situ bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons at one site contaminated with refinery waste and a second site contaminated with aviation gasoline at Alameda Point, California. At each site, geochemical and microbiological characteristics from four locations in the contaminated zone were compared to those from two uncontaminated background locations. At both sites, the geochemical indicators of in-situ biodegradation included depleted soil gas and groundwater oxygen, elevated groundwater alkalinity, and elevated soil gas carbon dioxide and methane in the contaminated zone relative to the background. Radiocarbon content of methane and carbon dioxide measured in soil gas at both sites indicated that they were derived from hydrocarbon contaminant degradation. Direct microscopy of soil core samples using cell wall stains and activity stains, revealed elevated microbial numbers and enhanced microbial activities in contaminated areas relative to background areas, corroborating geochemical findings. While microbial plate counts and microcosm studies using soil core samples provided laboratory evidence for the presence of some microbial activity and contaminant degradation abilities, they did not correlate well with either contaminant location, geochemical, isotopic, or direct microscopy data.

Alkalies↗

PubMed1999