Superfund Research Program

Biogeochemistry Core

Project Leader: Alexander F. van Geen
Co-Investigators: Steven N. Chillrud, Beizhan Yan (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)
Grant Number: P42ES010349
Funding Period: 2000-2021

Project-Specific Links

Final Progress Reports

Year:   2020  2016  2010  2005 

This analytical core laboratory is housed at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO). It provides sample preparation and analyses to six projects of the Columbia Superfund program and trains students and post-docs.  Sample preparation and analyses are carried out for water, soil, sediment, leachate, plant material and pre-ashed blood samples.  As such, the majority of the publications and exciting new discoveries from these many Columbia University SBRP projects are directly linked to the contributions from this core.  For example, the analyses of manganese concentrations, in addition to arsenic, for >3,000 Bangladesh groundwater samples enabled the statistical analyses of manganese exposure and health effects by the health science group – which led to the first ever link between water manganese and child intelligence.

Analyses on environmental and geological samples from Bangladesh, Vineland, NJ, Winthrop, ME and several NYS landfills together with training of students in analytical techniques have been the major focus in the past year.  Joy Ann Mahabir (summer intern), Karrie Radloff (GRA in Earth and Environmental Engineering), Amy Schoenfeld (GRA in Earth Science Journalism), Zahid Aziz (GRA in Earth and Environmental Sciences), Karen Wovkulich (GRA in Earth and Environmental Sciences), Ratan Dhar (Queens College GRA), Hun Bok Jung (Queens College GRA), Yi He (Queens College GRA), Jérôme Métral, and Fanny Travassac (two French students working on the Columbia SBRP collaborative research in Bangladesh) have all received training in a wide variety of analytical techniques, and each completed large number of analyses under the guidance of Dr. Cheng and Mr. Ross.

2005 also saw the publication of an analytical method paper in Applied Geochemistry on determining lead isotope ratios in blood with separation by iron hydroxide co-precipitation and analysis by multi-collector ICP-MS.  This method was developed and has been used for several years for analyzing samples for Dr. Blum’s bioavailability study.

Additional research focused on developing and evaluating methods for reliably preserving and analyzing inorganic and organic arsenic species in groundwater and sediment samples.  The analysts systematically assessed the performance of selectively packed cation and anion exchange columns for separation of arsenic species both in the laboratory and in the field.  The effectiveness of using EDTA to prevent iron from precipitating (and bringing arsenic with it), and its effect on column separation efficiency have been evaluated.  Preliminary results on Vineland, NJ, arsenic-contaminated groundwater suggest good recovery rates on spiked species and satisfying speciation separation.  The analysts also carefully evaluated the so-called “Ficklin” column (AG1x8, acetate form resin) for As(V) and As(III) separation for groundwater samples and phosphate extraction solution of sediments, and used the developed protocol to assess the arsenic species in natural and laboratory incubated Bangladesh sediments.