Endospores of Bacillus subtilis HA101 were applied to a simulated Mars Exploration Rover (MER) wheel and exposed to Mars-normal UV irradiation for 1, 3, or 6 h. The experiment was designed to simulate a contaminated rover wheel sitting on its landing platform before rolling off onto the martian terrain, as was encountered during the Spirit and Opportunity missions. When exposed to 1 h of Mars U...

Phytoremediation is an emerging green technology that uses plants and their associated microbes to remediate different environments contaminated with various pollutants. Phytoremediation, as an effective soil remediation technology, has gained popularity in the past ten years both in developed and developing countries. The main goal of the current article is to improve the understanding of phyt...

The mechanisms for translocation of heavy metals from soil to epigeal mosses were investigated. The first mechanism was demonstrated for (137)Cs and involved the uplifting of the pollutant-containing dust from the soil, followed by the local secondary deposition on surfaces of epigeal mosses and epiphytic lichens. The second mechanism involved the diffusion of metal cations from the soil throug...

Phytoremediation appears to be a promising technique for metal soil clean up, although its successful application on a large scale still remains a challenge. Field experiments for six scented Pelargonium cultivars, conducted on two Pb-contaminated calcareous and acidic soils, revealed vigorous plant growth, with no symptoms of morpho-phytotoxicity in spite of high Pb accumulation levels. Lead c...

Methods Efficacy studies were conducted according to ASTM E1174 or with modifications to the hand contamination procedure as follows: For ASTM E2755 studies, hands were contaminated with 0.2 ml of a concentrated challenge suspension to reduce soil load and eliminate post contamination hand wetness commonly associated with testing per E1174. For the “contact contamination” procedure hands were c...

Publication 1. A. Manceau et al, “Quantitative Zn speciation in smelter-contaminated soils by EXAFS spectroscopy,” Am. J. Sci. (in press, 2000). Figure 3 (top) Soil samples were taken at several depths from a contaminated site. (bottom) Model compounds derived from polarized-EXAFS data at the ESRF and μ-EXAFS data at the ALS provide a good fit with powder-EXAFS spectra from a soil sample, there...

The ever increasing pile-up of electronic waste in dumping sites, especially in developing countries such as China, Pakistan, India and several African countries, might have caused a significant alteration in the microbial community of the contaminated sites. This change in the microbial population may have significant impact to the soil ecology function. The major pollutants of electronic wast...

a quantitative evaluation of the effects of contamination of soil with petroleum, on thesoil physical properties, is required for optimal soil and water resources management. theobjective followed in the present study was to investigate runoff generation in soilscontaminated with kerosene and gas oil. towards this end, variables of runoffcommencement, runoff coefficient, variations in runoff du...

Phytoextraction of mercury-contaminated soils is a new strategy that consists of using the higher plants to make the soil contaminant nontoxic. The main problem that occurs during the process is the low solubility and bioavailability of mercury in soil. Therefore, some soil amendments can be used to increase the efficiency of the Hg phytoextraction process. The aim of the investigation was to u...

The responses of Aedes albopictus to sources of oviposition attractants and stimulants were evaluated with a behavioral bioassay in which females attracted to odorants emanating from water were trapped on screens coated with an adhesive. Gravid mosquitoes were attracted to volatiles from larval-rearing water and soil-contaminated cotton towels. Bacteria were isolated from these substrates and f...