A Multi-Scale Investigation of Transport of Complex Nanoparticles in Complex Flows: Integrating Lab, Field, and Models to Simplify Complexity

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Streams and rivers connect landscapes to oceans, moving natural and anthropogenic materials through extensive and heterogeneous systems. Engineered nanoparticles are an emerging class of materials that can be transported in these systems, and with the growing use of nanoparticles for commercial and industrial applications, their release into the environment is inevitable. Feasible management of environmental risks and applications of nanoparticles will require reliable, parsimonious, and accurate models that can predict the fate and transport behavior of nanoparticles. This project aims to produce comprehensive datasets from laboratory and field experiments to develop models that can predict the fate and transport of nanoparticles in the environment. Understanding the fate and transport of nanoparticles is important to numerous research areas, and accurate models are integral for regulatory agencies developing new legislation. While the developed models will focus on nanoparticles, project outcomes are expected to yield significant benefits to understanding and improving transport modeling of other complex substances (e.g., environmental DNA) in realistic hydrologic environments. This project will present numerous educational opportunities for young students (K-12) and adults by establishing modules that use the field-site to highlight the importance of understanding nanoparticle behavior in the environment.This project will be the first to date that completely integrates laboratory experiments, field experiments, and state-of-the-art mechanistic models to determine the fate of complex nanoparticles in complex streams. The PIs will establish a collection of nanoparticles that have differing physicochemical properties representing various aspects of the nanoparticle life-cycle. The field experiments will be conducted at the University of Notre Dame Linked Experimental Ecosystem site, a globally unique research facility that contains two man-made experimental watersheds consisting of an interconnected pond, streams, and a wetland. The outcomes of this project will be (i) comprehensive experimental datasets from nanoparticle transport-related experiments from laboratory scales, (ii) experimental datasets from controlled field experiments looking at nanoparticle transport in realistic streams and (iii) the development of a stochastic-based theoretical framework capable of modeling nanoparticle transport at these and other scales of environmental importance. Data outcomes will provide significant advances in understanding nanoparticle fate and transport in realistic flow environments. By building the models in a hierarchical manner and using a mechanistic framework to translate information from controlled laboratory scales up to field scales, a well-defined methodology will be developed for extension to even larger scales (e.g., entire stream and river networks).