The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

The summary of the selected article appears at the bottom of the page. In order to get back to the contents of the issue this article belongs to you have to access the link from the title. In order to see all the articles of the archive which have as author/co-author one of the authors mentioned below, you have to access the link from the author's name.

  
       
         
    STUDIA GEOLOGIA - Issue no. 1 / 2007  
         
  Article:   COMPOUND-SPECIFIC STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS (CSIA) FOR MONITORING IN SITU BENZENE BIODEGRADATION IN CONTAMINATED AQUIFERS.

Authors:  ANKO FISCHER, CARSTEN VOGT, STEFFI HERRMANN, KATJA THEUERKORN, ILKA HERKLOTZ, MARTIN THULLNER, HANS-HERMANN RICHNOW. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:  Benzene is a groundwater pollutant of specific concern, since it causes a significant health risk due to its widespread occurrence, relatively high water solubility and toxicity. Biodegradation is the only in situ process leading to a decrease of benzene concentrations in groundwater coupled to a sustainable mass removal of the contaminant. Therefore, the evaluation of in situ biodegradation of benzene is essential for the implementation of groundwater management strategies such as Natural Attenuation (NA). In recent years, compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) has gained more and more attention as a tool for characterizing and assessing in situ biodegradation of organic pollutants in contaminated aquifers. This concept relies on the stable isotope fractionation occurring during the microbial degradation leading to an enrichment of heavier stable isotopes in the residual fraction of a contaminant. Thus, the observation of isotope ratio shifts for carbon, hydrogen or other elements that are involved in cleavage or generation of chemical bonds during the initial step of microbial transformation can be used as an indicator for in situ biodegradation.  
         
     
         
         
      Back to previous page