Field and Laboratory Methods
The Toxics Program develops methods for field and laboratory measurements
of a wide range of environmental properties. The effectiveness of
simulation models and qualitative judgements is limited by our ability
to make efficient and accurate measurements of properties as fundamental
as streamflow, and as complex as the concentrations of a trace contaminant
in different media (water, sediment and tissue).Techniques include:
- Aquifer and tracer tests to determine flow and transport properties
in unconsolidated and fractured-rock aquifers,
- Stream tracers to determine contaminant sources and dispersal,
surface and borehole geophysics that indicate subsurface properties,
- Measurement of chemical tracers, such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons)
or caffeine, or isotopes that indicate relative age and source,
- Measurement of the concentration of pesticides and their environmental
degradates, and
- Laboratory experiments that estimate rates of biodegradation.
- Laboratory methods development for pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater compounds
Information on Field Methods
Headlines
Fact Sheets
Toxics Program Information
USGS Information |
Information on Laboratory Methods
Headlines
Fact Sheets
Toxics Program Information
USGS Information
|
Bibliographies
Other Information on Environmental Measurements
|
