Arsenian pyrite, formed during Cretaceous gold mineralization, is the primary source of As along the Melones fault zone in the southern Mother Lode Gold District of California. Mine tailings and associated weathering products from partially submerged inactive gold mines at Don Pedro Reservoir, on the Tuolumne River, contain approx. 20-1300 ppm As. The highest concentrations are in weathering crusts from the Clio mine and nearby outcrops which contain goethite or jarosite. As is concentrated up to 2150 ppm in the fine-grained (<63 mu-m) fraction of these Fe-rich weathering products. Individual pyrite grains in albite-chlorite schists of the Clio mine tailings contain an average of 1.2 wt. percent As. Pyrite grains are coarsely zoned, with local As concentrations ranging from approx. 0 to 5 wt. percent. Electron microprobe, transmission electron microscope, and extended X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) analyses indicate that As substitutes for S in pyrite and is not present as inclusions of arsenopyrite or other As-bearing phases. Comparison with simulated EXAFS spectra demonstrates that As atoms are locally clustered in the pyrite lattice and that the unit cell of arsenian pyrite is expanded by approx. 2.6 percent relative to pure pyrite. During weathering, clustered substitution of As into pyrite may be responsible for accelerating oxidation, hydrolysis, and dissolution of arsenian pyrite relative to pure pyrite in weathered tailings. Arsenic K-edge EXAFS analysis of the fine-grained Fe-rich weathering products are consistent with corner-sharing between As(V) tetrahedra and Fe(III)-octahedra. Determinations of nearest-neighbor distances and atomic identities, generated from least-squares fitting algorithms to spectral data, indicate that arsenate tetrahedra are sorbed on goethite mineral surfaces but substitute for SO4 in jarosite. Erosional transport of As-bearing goethite and jarosite to Don Pedro Reservoir increases the potential for As mobility and bioavailability by desorption or dissolution. Both the substrate minerals and dissolved As species are expected to respond to seasonal changes in lake chemistry caused by thermal stratification and turnover within the monomictic Don Pedro Reservoir. Arsenic is predicted to be most bioavailable and toxic in the reservoir's summer hypolimnion.

Heightened biological activity was observed in February 1996 in the high-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) subarctic North Pacific Ocean, a region that is thought to be iron-limited. Here we provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that Ocean Station Papa (OSP) in the subarctic Pacific received a lateral supply of particulate iron from the continental margin off the Aleutian Islands in the winter, coincident with the observed biological bloom. Synchrotron X-ray analysis was used to describe the physical form, chemistry, and depth distributions of iron in size fractionated particulate matter samples. The analysis reveals that discrete micron-sized iron-rich hotspots are ubiquitous in the upper 200m at OSP, more than 900km from the closest coast. The specifics of the chemistry and depth profiles of the Fe hot spots trace them to the continental margins. We thus hypothesize that iron hotspots are a marker for the delivery of iron from the continental margin. We confirm the delivery of continental margin iron to the open ocean using an ocean general circulation model with an iron-like tracer source at the continental margin. We suggest that iron from the continental margin stimulated a wintertime phytoplankton bloom, partially relieving the HNLC condition.

Several DOE sites have been contaminated by transuranic radionuclide (TRU) discharges including neptunium and plutonium. Their interaction with the surrounding geological media can affect the transport and remediation of these radionuclides in the environment. Manganese based minerals, present as minor phases in the vadose zone, can preferentially sequester TRU over other minerals present in larger quantities. The objective of this project is to understand the interactions between plutonium and neptunium and manganese oxyhydroxide minerals to predict potential hazards they represent to the environment, as well as to provide important scientific information for the design of effective remediation strategies for contaminated DOE sites.

The sorption of Pu(VI) and Pu(V) onto manganite (MnOOH) and Hausmannite (Mn3O4) was studied at pH 5. Manganite sorbed 21-24 percent from a 1x10-4 M plutonium solution and the hausmannite removed between 43-66 percent of the plutonium. The increased sorption by hausmannite results from its larger surface area (about twice that of manganite) plus a larger number of active surface sites. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra taken at the Pu LIII edge were compared to standard spectra of plutonium in single oxidation states. Based on these spectra, it appears that both manganite and hausmannite reduce the higher valent plutonium species to Pu(IV). Between 53-59 percent of the plutonium was present as Pu(IV) in the manganite samples while 55-61 percent of the plutonium complexed to the hausmannite had also been reduced to Pu(IV). The exact mechanism behind this redox interaction between the plutonium and the manganese needs to be identified.