Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Project: Deciphering Arsenic Migration Pathways within the Mekong Delta, Cambodia

0751701 Fendorf该奖项支持Scott Fendorf博士及其学生与柬埔寨金边资源开发国际主任Michael Sampson博士之间的博士论文增强项目。 该项目将涉及破译柬埔寨湄公河三角洲内砷的迁移途径。 砷是一种遍布地壳的有毒和致癌的类金属，对全世界数百万人产生不利影响。 东南亚的许多人都暴露在受砷污染的饮用水中。 尽管广泛的中毒和地下砷源的关注，生物农药化学过程导致砷地下水仍然没有得到解决。 研究人员建议确定东南亚沉积盆地内将砷释放到水相中的过程。 柬埔寨的湄公河三角洲将作为这项研究的一个示范系统。 在完成这个项目时，他们将利用一套现场测量，完整的岩心浸出实验，以及沉积物与原生微生物群落的培养。 一旦完成，它们将提供沉积物中砷释放和运输的具体说明，这将限制砷是问题污染物的预测。 这种预测是迫切需要的，以打击目前的健康危机与广泛摄入砷污染的沃茨，特别是在东南亚的发展中国家。这项研究的结果将提供一个机制描述砷释放近地表热带沉积物，包括相关的生物，化学和水文过程。 沉积物的生物化学条件有助于砷的释放将受到限制，这些传播的信息将用于更好地预测东南亚地区砷浓度升高风险较高的地点。 该项目将培训美国研究生以及一些年轻的柬埔寨科学家，以获取和分析实地数据，增加因多年内战而枯竭的知识基础。 该项目还将为美国研究生提供全球研究经验。 预计该学生将在项目完成后与柬埔寨合作者保持多年的科学联系。

0751701FendorfThis award supports a doctoral dissertation enhancement project between Dr. Scott Fendorf, his student and Dr. Michael Sampson, Director, Resource Development International in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The project will involve deciphering Arsenic migration pathways within the Mekong Delta in Cambodia. Arsenic, a toxic and carcinogenic metalloid found throughout the earth's crust, is adversely affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Many individuals in Southeast Asia are exposed to drinking water contaminated with arsenic. Despite the widespread poisoning and resulting attention on subsurface arsenic sources, biophysicochemical processes leading to Arsenic groundwater remain unresolved. The researchers propose to define the processes responsible for releasing Arsenic into the aqueous phase within the sedimentary basins of Southeast Asia. The Mekong Delta of Cambodia will serve as a model system for the study. In accomplishing this project they will utilize a suite of field measurements, intact core leaching experiments, and sediment incubations with native microbial communities. Once completed, they will provide a specific illustration of arsenic release and transport within sediments, which will constrain predictions of where Arsenic is a problem contaminant. Such predictions are desperately needed to combat the current health crisis associated with the widespread ingestion of arsenic contaminated waters, especially in the developing nations of Southeast Asia. The results of this study will provide a mechanistic description of Arsenic release from near-surface tropical sediments, inclusive of relevant biological, chemical, and hydrologic processes. The biochemical conditions with sediments conductive to Arsenic release will be constrained, and this disseminated information will be used to better predict locations which may be at higher risk of elevated Arsenic concentrations within Southeast Asia. The project will train the U.S. graduate student, as well as some young Cambodian scientists, to acquire and analyze field data, adding to the intellectual base now depleted by many years of the civil war. The project will also provide the U.S. graduate student with a global research experience. It is anticipated that the student will maintain scientific connections with his Cambodian collaborators for many years after the project is completed.