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

这项美国-智利规划访问提案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，在西卡罗莱纳大学的杰里米勒博士的指导下，访问了里奥洛亚山谷。 洛阿河是智利北方最重要的河流之一，发源于安第斯山脉的西侧，向下游流经极度干旱的阿塔卡马沙漠，注入太平洋。先前收集的数据显示，Rio Loa内的水和沉积物受到有毒微量金属和准金属的污染，包括砷，铜，锂和铅等。 砷被认为是一个特别大的问题，因为众所周知，砷对人类健康有影响，而且在河水沃茨中的浓度极高（在当地，超过了世界卫生组织提出的饮用水准则）。 此次访问的目的是让美国研究小组与智利研究人员一起开展一项综合的多学科调查，（1）使用新的地球化学指纹方法有效地追踪来自源区的微量金属通过里约罗亚盆地的运动，以及（2）确定特定污染源中有毒痕量金属对河流的相对贡献（包括几个矿场）使用经修改和改进的统计建模方法。 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流入多个污染源的河流的污染物的来源和数量。 这次访问开发的项目将利用Rio Loa独特的物理化学环境来解决这一重要问题，在该环境中，多种金属来源表现出不同的化学性质，这些化学性质对河流的特定河段有贡献。 该项目将采用跨学科方法开发和实施，将智利安托法加斯塔北天主教大学的纳尔逊格拉和列奥纳多罗梅罗博士的地球化学专业知识与来自西卡罗莱纳大学、内华达州矿业和地质局以及北方肯塔基州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。 该计划还将包括一个培训和教育计划，重点是本科生和研究生（MS）的研究经验。学生和一个多机构的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.