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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Heavy Metals in the Environment

Physicochemical and Mineralogical Characterization of Soil–Saprolite Cores from a Field Research Site, Tennessee

^a Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831
^b Faculty of Earth System and Environmental Sciences, Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-Dong, Buk-Gu, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea
^c Environmental Engineering Research Centre, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Planning, Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT9 5AG, Northern Ireland, UK

^* Corresponding author (rohy{at}chonnam.ac.kr)

Received for publication April 11, 2005. Site characterization is an essential initial step in determining the feasibility of remedial alternatives at hazardous waste sites. Physicochemical and mineralogical characterization of U-contaminated soils in deeply weathered saprolite at Area 2 of the DOE Field Research Center (FRC) site, Oak Ridge, TN, was accomplished to examine the feasibility of bioremediation. Concentrations of U in soil–saprolite (up to 291 mg kg^–1 in oxalate-extractable U_o) were closely related to low pH (ca. 4–5), high effective cation exchange capacity without Ca (64.7–83.2 cmol_c kg^–1), amorphous Mn content (up to 9910 mg kg^–1), and the decreased presence of relative clay mineral contents in the bulk samples (i.e., illite 2.5–12 wt. %, average 32 wt. %). The pH of the fill material ranged from 7.0 to 10.5, whereas the pH of the saprolite ranged from 4.5 to 8. Uranium concentration was highest (about 300 mg kg^–1) at around 6 m below land surface near the saprolite–fill interface. The pH of ground water at Area 2 tended to be between 6 and 7 with U concentrations of about 0.9 to 1.7 mg L^–1. These site specific characteristics of Area 2, which has lower U and nitrate contamination levels and more neutral ground water pH compared with FRC Areas 1 and 3 (ca. 5.5 and <4, respectively), indicate that with appropriate addition of electron donors and nutrients bioremediation of U by metal reducing microorganisms may be possible.

Abbreviations: BCV, Bear Creek Valley • CBD, citrate–bicarbonate–dithionate • DOE, Department of Energy • DXRD, differential X-ray diffraction • ECEC, effective cation exchange capacity • EDX, energy dispersive X-ray • FRC, field research center • HIV, hydroxy-interstratified vermiculite • IC, ion chromatograph • MRB, metal-reducing bacteria • NABIR, Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research • ORR, Oak Ridge Reservation • PCB, polychlorinated biphenyl • PCE, tetrachloroethylene • RIR, reference intensity ratio • SEM, scanning electron microscope • TIC, total inorganic carbon • TOC, total organic carbon • XRD, X-ray diffraction • XRF, X-ray fluorescence

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