Principal Investigator Philip Gschwend
Light-induced reactions of dissolved organic matter and redox-active metals such as Fe and Cu produce a number of short-lived transient species in oxygenated sunlit surface waters, some of which are able to break down recalcitrant organic contaminants (e.g. OH produced by Fenton's reaction; see above). Because the reactive transients are produced and destroyed by reactions with each other, their steady-state concentrations are not simple functions of light intensity or concentration of reactants (dissolved organic matter and metals). The goals of this study are (1) to determine important transient-transient interactions in a model field site
Halls Brook Holding Area, a small lake impacted by several Superfund sites in the Aberjona watershed, and incorporate these reactions into kinetic/transport models to predict transient steady-state concentrations in the lake, and (2) to quantify the role of reactive transients, especially OH, as a sink of organic contaminants in Halls Brook Holding Area.