US - Chile Planning Visit: Geochemical Tracing of Metal Contaminants; Rio Loa Basin, Chile

这项美国-智利规划访问计划将支持来自美国的一名初级研究人员和两名高级研究人员在西卡罗来纳大学曾傑瑞·米勒博士的指导下访问里约罗亚山谷。罗阿河是智利北部最重要的河流之一，发源于安第斯山脉的西侧，顺流而下，流经极其干旱的阿塔卡马沙漠，流入太平洋。此前收集的数据显示，里约热内卢的水和沉积物受到有毒痕量金属和类金属的污染，包括砷、铜、锂和铅等。砷被认为是特别有问题的，因为它对人类健康的影响是众所周知的，而且它在河水中的浓度极高(在当地超过了世界卫生组织提出的饮用水指导方针)。此次访问的目的是美国研究团队与智利研究人员共同开发一项综合的多学科调查，以(1)使用新的地球化学指纹方法有效跟踪痕量金属从来源地通过里约罗亚盆地的移动，以及(2)使用改进和改进的统计建模方法确定特定污染源(包括几个矿场)对河流的有毒痕量金属的相对贡献。近年来，人们越来越认识到，需要开发新的、更有效的方法来确定污染物流入存在多个污染源的河流的来源和数量。通过这次访问开发的项目将利用里约热内卢独特的物理化学环境来解决这一重要问题，在这种环境中，多种金属来源表现出不同的化学成分，这些化学成分对河流的特定河段有贡献。该项目的开发和实施将采用跨学科方法，将智利安托法加斯塔北卡托利卡大学的Nelson Guera博士和Leonardo Romero博士的地球化学专业知识与来自西卡罗来纳大学、内华达州矿产和地质局和北肯塔基大学的美国科学家的地貌、地球化学和统计建模专业知识相结合。即将开发的计划还将包括一项培训和教育计划，重点是本科生和研究生(M.S.)的研究经验。学生和多机构学生和教师交流计划的发展。

This U.S - Chile Planning Visit proposal will support one junior and two senior researchers from the U.S., under the direction of Dr. Jerry Miller of Western Carolina University, for a visit to the Rio Loa valley. The Rio Loa, one of the most important rivers in northern Chile, heads on the western flank of the Andes and flows downstream across the extremely arid Atacama Desert to the Pacific Ocean. Previously collected data show that water and sediments within the Rio Loa are contaminated by toxic trace metals and metalloids including arsenic, copper, lithium, and lead, among others. Arsenic is thought to be particularly problematic because of its well known human health effects and its extremely high concentrations in river waters (which locally exceed drinking water guidelines proposed by the World Health Organization). The objective of this visit is for the U.S. research team to develop an integrated, multidisciplinary investigation with Chilean researchers that (1) effectively tracks the movement of trace metals from source areas through the Rio Loa basin using novel geochemical fingerprinting methods, and (2) determines the relative contributions of toxic trace metals to the river from specific contaminant sources (including several mine sites) using modified and improved statistical modeling methods. The need to develop new, more effective methods of determining the source and quantity of contaminant influx to rivers where multiple sources exist has become increasingly recognized in recent years. The project to be developed from this visit will address this important problem by taking advantage of the Rio Loa's unique physiochemical environment where multiple metal sources exhibit distinct chemistries that are contributed to specific reaches of the river. The project will be developed and carried out using an interdisciplinary approach that combines the geochemical expertise of Drs. Nelson Guerra and Leonardo Romero at the Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile with the geomorphologic, geochemical, and statistical modeling expertise of U.S. scientists from Western Carolina University, the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, and Northern Kentucky University. The program to be developed also will include a training and educational initiative focused on research experiences for undergraduate and graduate (M.S.) students and the development of a multi-institutional student and faculty exchange program.