Water Quality

One of the major themes of this research group is the elucidation of magnitude and mechanisms of water quality degradation and impacts on ecosystems and human health. The geochemical and isotopic variations are used as natural “fingerprints” for tracing the origin, migration, and fate of contaminants in the environment. We have studied the water quality of water resources in different parts of the world (Jordan, Israel, Morocco, Ethiopia, Vietnam, India, United States) and the occurrence and distribution of contaminants (arsenic, radium, fluoride, boron, hexavalent chromium, uranium, and molybdenum) in water resources.

Global Water Quality Research

Geochemistry of Radionuclides in groundwater resources: Uranium, radium, and radon – Naturally Occurring Materials (NORM)

• Vengosh, A., Coyte, R.M., Podgorski, J., Johnson, T.M. (2022) A critical review on the occurrence and distribution of the uranium- and thorium-decay nuclides and their effect on the quality of groundwater. Science of The Total Environment, 808, 151914. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151914)
• McMahon, P.; Vengosh, A.; Davis, T.; Landon, M.; Tyne, R.; Wright, M.; Kulongoski, J.; Hunt, A.; Barry, P.; Kondash, A.; Wang, Z.; Ballentine, C. (2019). Occurrence and sources of radium in groundwater associated with oil fields in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California. Environmental Science & Technology, 53, 16, 9398-9406.

• Coyte, R.M., Jain, R.C., Srivastava, S.K., Sharma, K.C., Khalil, A.,  Ma, L., Vengosh, A. (2018) Large-scale Uranium Contamination of Groundwater Resources in India. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 5, 341–347.
• Lauer, N.E., Warner, N.R., Vengosh, A. (2018) Sources of radium accumulation in stream sediments near disposal sites in Pennsylvania: Implications for disposal of conventional oil and gas wastewater. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(3),  955–962.
• Vinson, D.S. Lundy, J.R., Dwyer, G.S., Vengosh, A. (2018) Radium isotope response to aquifer storage and recovery in a sandstone aquifer. Applied Geochemistry , 91, 54-63.
• Lauer, N.E., Vengosh, A., Dai, S. (2017)  Naturally occurring radioactive materials in uranium-rich coals and associated coal combustion residues from China. Environmental Science & Technology 51, 13487−1349.
• Lauer, N.E., Vengosh, A. (2016) Age dating oil and gas wastewater spills using radium isotopes and their decay products in impacted soil and sediment. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 3, 205–209 DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00118.
• Lauer, N.E., Hower, J.C., Hsu-Kim, H., Taggart, R.K., Vengosh, A. (2015) Naturally occurring radioactive materials in coals and coal combustion residues in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology, 49, 11227–11233. NORM in coal and coal ash_EST
• Lauer, N.E., Hower, J.C., Hsu-Kim, H., Taggart, R.K., Vengosh, A. (2015) Naturally occurring radioactive materials in coals and coal combustion residues in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology, 49, 11227–11233. NORM in coal and coal ash_EST
• Vinson, D.S., Lundy, J.R. Dwyer, G.S.,  and Vengosh, A., (2012). Implications of carbonate-like geochemical signatures in a sandstone aquifer: Radium and strontium isotopes in the Cambrian Jordan aquifer (Minnesota, USA). Chemical Geology, 334, 280-294 (Vinson et al. – 2012 – Implications of carbonate-like geochemical signatu)
• Vengosh, A., Hirschfeld, D., Vinson, D.S., Dwyer, G.S. Raanan, H., Rimawi, O., Al-Zoubi, A., Akkawi, E.,  Marie, A., Haquin, G.,  Zaarur, S., and Ganor, J. (2009) High Naturally Occurring Radioactivity in Fossil Groundwater in the Middle East. Environmental Science and Technology, 43 (6), 1769-1775• DOI: 10.1021/es802969r.
• Vinson, D.S., Vengosh, A., Hirschfeld, D. and Dwyer, G.S. (2009). Relationships between radium and radon occurrence and hydrochemistry in fresh groundwater from fractured crystalline rocks, North Carolina (USA). Chemical Geology, 260, 159-171. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.10.022 (paper: Radium NC groundwater)
• Raanan, H., Vengosh, A., Paytan, A., and Nishri, A. (2009) Quantifying saline groundwater flow into a fresh water lake using the Ra isotope quartet: A case study from the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), Israel. Limnology and Oceanography, 54(1), 119–131.
• Vinson, D.S., Campbell, T.R. and Vengosh, A. (2008). Radon-222 transfer from groundwater used in showers to indoor air. Applied Geochemistry, 23, 2676-2685. (paper: Radon_in_air)
• Vengosh, A. (2006) Rooting Out Radioactive Groundwater. Geotimes, May 2006, 18-21.

Geochemistry of Arsenic

• Schlesinger, W.H.,  Klein, E.M., Vengosh, A. (2022). Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Arsenic. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, e2022GB007515. (https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GB007515)
• Coyte, R., Vengosh, A. (2020) Factors controlling the risks of co-occurrence of the redox-sensitive elements of arsenic, chromium, vanadium, and uranium in groundwater from the eastern United States. Environmental Science & Technology,54 (7), 4367-4375.
• Schwartz, G.E., Rivera, N.A., Lee, S-W., Harrington, J. M., Hower, J.C., Levine, K.E., Vengosh, A., Hsu-Kim, H. (2016). Leaching Potential and Redox Transformations of Arsenic and Selenium in Sediment Microcosms with Fly Ash. Applied Geochemistry, 67, 177-185.
• Merola, R.B., Hien, T. T. , Quyen, D.T.T. , Vengosh, A. (2015) Arsenic Exposure to drinking water in the Mekong Delta. Science of the Total Environment, 511, 544–552.Arsenic exposure in Mekong Delta
• Merola, R.B., Kravchenko, J., Rango, T., Vengosh, A. (2014) Arsenic exposure of rural populations from the Rift Valley of Ethiopia as monitored by keratin in toenails. Journal Of Exposure Science And Environmental Epidemiology, 24, 121-126 (doi: 10.1038/jes.2013.77).916619
• Vinson, D.S., McIntosh, J.C., Dwyer, G.S., Vengosh, A. (2011). Arsenic and other oxyanion-forming natural contaminants in an alluvial basin aquifer: Evaluating sources and mobilization by isotopic tracers (Sr, B, S, C, O, H, Ra). Applied Geochemistry, 26, 1364-1376.

Geochemistry of Hexavalent Chromium

• Guo, H.,  Chen, Y., Hu, H., Zhao, K.,  Li, H., Yan, S., Xiu, W.,  Coyte, R.M., Vengosh, A. (2020) High hexavalent chromium in groundwater from a deep aquifer in the Baiyangdian basin of the North China Plain. Environmental Science & Technology, 54, 10068–10077.
• Coyte, R.M., McKinley, K. L., Jiang, S., Karr, J., Dwyer, G. S., Keyworth, A. J., Davis, C. C., Kondash, A. J., and Vengosh, A. (2019) Occurrence and distribution of hexavalent chromium in groundwater from North Carolina, USA. Science of the Total Environment, 711, 135135.
• Vengosh, A., Coyte, R., Karr, J., Harkness, J.S., Kondash, A.J., Laura S. Ruhl, L.A., Rose B. Merola, R.B., Dywer, G.S. (2016) The Origin of Hexavalent Chromium in Drinking Water Wells from the Piedmont Aquifers of North Carolina. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 3, 409-414.hexavalent-chromium-in-piedmont-groundwater

Geochemistry of fluoride

• Schlesinger, W.H., Klein, E., Vengosh, A. (2020) Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Fluorine. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 34, e2020GB006722. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GB006722.
• Godebo, T., Vengosh, A., Jeuland, M., Whitford, G.M., Tekle-Haimanot, D. (2017) Biomarkers of chronic fluoride exposure in groundwater in a highly exposed population. Science of the Total Environment, 596–597, 15, 1–11.
• Rango. T., Vengosh, A. Jeuland, M., Tekle-Haimanot, Weinthal, E., Kravchenko, Paul, C., McCornick, P. (2014) Fluoride exposure from groundwater as reflected by urinary fluoride and children’s dental fluorosis in the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley. Science of the Total Environment, 496, 188-197.
• Godebo, T.R., Vengosh, A. Dawyer, G., Bianchini, G. (2013) Mobilization of arsenic and other naturally occurring contaminants in groundwater of the Main Ethiopian Rift aquifers. Water Research, 47, 5801–5818.
• Rango, T., Kravchenko, J., Atlaw, B., McCornick, P.G., Jeuland, M., Merola, M. Vengosh, A., (2012). Groundwater quality and its health impact: an assessment of dental fluorosis in rural inhabitants of the Main Ethiopian Rift. Environment International, 43, 37-47. [Rango et al, 2012]