TY - JOUR
T1 - Application of phytoscreening to three hazardous waste sites in Arizona
AU - Duncan, Candice M.
AU - Mainhagu, Jon
AU - Virgone, Kayla
AU - Ramírez, Denise Moreno
AU - Brusseau, Mark L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the University of Arizona TRIF-funded Water, Environmental and Energy Solutions initiative and by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Basic Research Program (Grant # P42 ES004940). The support of Hans Huth and Robert Wallin of Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Gerald Hiatt and Rachel Loftin of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Bill Ellett of Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Sue Kraemer of Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Group, Dave Giles and Todd Cruse of Clear Creek Associates, and Jenn McCall of Freescale is greatly appreciated. We also thank Zhilin Guo of the Contaminant Transport Group for her help in sample collection and analysis. Finally, we thank the reviewers for their constructive comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2017/12/31
Y1 - 2017/12/31
N2 - The great majority of prior phytoscreening applications have been conducted in humid and temperate environments wherein groundwater is relatively shallow (~ 1–6 m deep). The objective of this research is to evaluate its use in semi-arid environments for sites with deeper groundwater (> 10 m). To that end, phytoscreening is applied to three chlorinated-solvent hazardous-waste sites in Arizona. Contaminant concentrations were quantifiable in tree-tissue samples collected from two of the sites (Nogales, Park-Euclid). Contaminant concentrations were detectable, but not quantifiable, for the third site. Tree-tissue concentrations of tetrachloroethene (PCE) ranged from approximately 400–5000 ug/kg wet weight for burrobrush, cottonwood, palo verde, and velvet mesquite at the Nogales site. In addition to standard trunk-core samples, leaf samples were collected to test the effectiveness of a less invasive sampling method. Leaf-sample concentrations were quantifiable, but several times lower than the corresponding core-sample concentrations. Comparison of results obtained for the test sites to those reported in the literature suggest that tree species is a major factor mediating observed results. One constraint faced for the Arizona sites was the relative scarcity of mature trees available for sampling, particularly in areas adjacent to industrial zones. The results of this study illustrate that phytoscreening can be used effectively to characterize the presence of groundwater contamination for semi-arid sites with deeper groundwater.
AB - The great majority of prior phytoscreening applications have been conducted in humid and temperate environments wherein groundwater is relatively shallow (~ 1–6 m deep). The objective of this research is to evaluate its use in semi-arid environments for sites with deeper groundwater (> 10 m). To that end, phytoscreening is applied to three chlorinated-solvent hazardous-waste sites in Arizona. Contaminant concentrations were quantifiable in tree-tissue samples collected from two of the sites (Nogales, Park-Euclid). Contaminant concentrations were detectable, but not quantifiable, for the third site. Tree-tissue concentrations of tetrachloroethene (PCE) ranged from approximately 400–5000 ug/kg wet weight for burrobrush, cottonwood, palo verde, and velvet mesquite at the Nogales site. In addition to standard trunk-core samples, leaf samples were collected to test the effectiveness of a less invasive sampling method. Leaf-sample concentrations were quantifiable, but several times lower than the corresponding core-sample concentrations. Comparison of results obtained for the test sites to those reported in the literature suggest that tree species is a major factor mediating observed results. One constraint faced for the Arizona sites was the relative scarcity of mature trees available for sampling, particularly in areas adjacent to industrial zones. The results of this study illustrate that phytoscreening can be used effectively to characterize the presence of groundwater contamination for semi-arid sites with deeper groundwater.
KW - Phytoscreening
KW - Site characterization
KW - Tree core samples
KW - VOCs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026475245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85026475245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.236
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.236
M3 - Article
C2 - 28783907
AN - SCOPUS:85026475245
VL - 609
SP - 951
EP - 955
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
SN - 0048-9697
ER -