skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: The IRIS Imager: A freeware program for quantification of paint removal on IRIS films
Abstract Soils with seasonal or continuous water saturation are characterized by unique redox‐related processes including Fe and Mn oxide reduction. Indicators of reduction in soils (IRIS) devices were created as low‐cost, direct sensors of such reduced chemistry. Such IRIS devices are painted with oxides of Fe or Mn, inserted into the soil, and then removed after a period of time; once removed, the paint lost due to reductive dissolution of these oxides is used to indicate the presence, location, and/or intensity of reducing conditions. However, quantifying the paint removal using existing methods can be subjective and time consuming. Here, we describe the use of the IRIS Imager, an image analysis program that calculates removal of paint from IRIS films inL*a*b* color space (whereL* is lightness,a* is red–green value, andb* is blue–yellow value) by comparing the change in lightness between initial and final IRIS film images. Paint removal from films deployed in flooded rice (Oryza sativaL.) paddy soils were quantified using the IRIS Imager, the grid method, and chemical extractions of IRIS films. All three methods were suitable for quantification of paint removal, but the IRIS Imager provided additional statistics to assess heterogeneity in paint removal on individual films and a less subjective approach to quantifying Mn oxide paint removal when Fe oxidation on Mn films was present. This free software can be used with IRIS devices to reproducibly measure paint removal from Fe oxide and Mn oxide IRIS and Fe oxide precipitation on Mn oxide IRIS.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1930806
PAR ID:
10360372
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Soil Science Society of America Journal
Volume:
85
Issue:
6
ISSN:
0361-5995
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: p. 2210-2219
Size(s):
p. 2210-2219
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. null (Ed.)
    The objective of this study was to investigate the application of manganese oxide [MnO x(s) ] and granular activated carbon (GAC) media for the removal of caffeine and acetaminophen from water. Organic contaminants of emerging concern represent a developing issue due to their effects on human health and the environment. Manganese oxides are effective for water treatment because of their ability to mediate adsorption and oxidation–reduction reactions for many organic and inorganic constituents. Laboratory scale column experiments were performed using different combinations of commercial MnO x(s) and GAC for assessing the removal of caffeine and acetaminophen, and the subsequent release of soluble Mn due to the reductive dissolution of MnO x(s) . The removal of acetaminophen was detected for all media combinations investigated. However, the removal of caffeine by adsorption only occurred in columns containing GAC media. There was no removal of caffeine in columns containing only MnO x(s) media. Manganese release occurred in columns containing MnO x(s) media, but concentrations were below the secondary drinking water standard of 50 μg L −1 set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Soluble Mn released from a first process by MnO x(s) media column was removed through adsorption into the GAC media used in a second process. The results of this investigation are relevant for implementation of MnO x(s) and GAC media combinations as an effective treatment process to remove organic contaminants from water. 
    more » « less
  2. interactions between phosphate and various Fe (oxyhydr)oxides are poorly constrained in natural systems. An in-situ incubation experiment was conducted to explore Fe (oxyhydr)oxide transformation and effects on phosphate sorption in soils with contrasting saturation and redox conditions. Synthetic Fe (oxyhydr)oxides (ferrihydrite, goethite and hematite) were coated onto quartz sand and either pre-sorbed with phosphate or left phosphate-free. The oxide-coated sands were mixed with natural organic matter, enclosed in mesh bags, and buried in and around a vernal pond for up to 12 weeks. Redox conditions were stable and oxic in the upland soils surrounding the vernal pond but largely shifted from Fe reducing to Fe oxidizing in the lowland soils within the vernal pond as it dried during the summer. Iron (oxyhydr)oxides lost more Fe (− 41% ± 10%) and P (− 43 ± 11%) when incubated in the redox-dynamic lowlands compared to the uplands (− 18% ± 5% Fe and − 24 ± 8% P). Averaged across both uplands and lowlands, Fe losses from crystalline goethite and hematite (− 38% ± 6%) were unexpectedly higher than losses from short range ordered ferrihydrite (− 12% ± 10%). We attribute losses of Fe and associated P from goethite and hematite to colloid detachment and dispersion but losses from ferrihydrite to reductive dissolution. Iron losses were partially offset by retention of solubilized Fe as organic-bound Fe(III). Iron (oxyhydr)oxides that persisted during the incubation retained or even gained P, indicating low amounts of phosphate sorption from solution. These results demonstrate that hydrologic variability and Fe (oxyhydr)oxide mineralogy impact Fe mobilization pathways that may regulate phosphate bioavailability. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract In headwater catchments, surface groundwater discharge areas have unique soil biogeochemistry and can be hot spots for solute contribution to streams. Across the northeastern United States, headwater hillslopes with surface groundwater discharge were enriched in soil Mn, including Watershed 3 of Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire. Soils of this site were investigated along a grid to determine extent of Mn‐rich zone(s) and relationships to explanatory variables using ordinary kriging. The O and B horizons were analyzed for total secondary Mn and Fe, Cr oxidation potential, total organic C, moisture content, wetness ratio, and pH. Two Mn hot spots were found: a poorly drained, flowing spring (Location A); and a moderately well‐drained swale (Location B). Both had ∼6,000–9,000 mg Mn kg–1soil. However, Location A had high Cr oxidation potential (a measure of Mn reactivity), whereas Location B did not. Location C, a poorly drained seep with slow‐moving water, had lower Mn content and Cr oxidation potential. Manganese‐rich soil particles were analyzed using X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure and micro‐X‐ray diffraction; the dominant oxidation state was Mn(IV), and the dominant Mn oxide species was a layer‐type Mn oxide (L‐MnO2). We propose input of Mn(II) with groundwater, which is oxidized by soil microbes. Studies of catchment structure and response could benefit from identifying hot spots of trace metals, sourced mainly from parent material but which accumulate according to hydropedologic conditions. Small‐scale variation in Mn enrichment due to groundwater and microtopography appears to be more important than regional‐scale variation due to air pollution. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract The small‐polaron hopping model has been used for six decades to rationalize electronic charge transport in oxides. The model was developed for binary oxides, and, despite its significance, its accuracy has not been rigorously tested for higher‐order oxides. Here, the small‐polaron transport model is tested by using a spinel system with mixed cation oxidation states (MnxFe3−xO4). Using molecular‐beam epitaxy (MBE), a series of single crystal MnxFe3−xO4thin films with controlled stoichiometry, 0 ≤x ≤ 2.3, and lattice strain are grown, and the cation site‐occupation is determined through X‐ray emission spectroscopy (XES). Density functional theory +Uanalysis shows that charge transport occurs only between like‐cations (Fe/Fe or Mn/Mn). The site‐occupation data and percolation models show that there are limited stoichiometric ranges for transport along Fe and Mn pathways. Furthermore, due to asymmetric hopping barriers and formation energies, the polaron is energetically preferred to the polaron, resulting in an asymmetric contribution of Mn/Mn pathways. All of these findings are not contained in the conventional small‐polaron hopping model, highlighting its inadequacy. To correct the model, new parameters in the nearest‐neighbor hopping equation are introduced to account for percolation, cross‐hopping, and polaron‐distribution, and it is found that a near‐perfect correlation can be made between experiment and theory for the electronic conductivity. 
    more » « less
  5. An area of Watershed 3 in Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest containing a seep, a spring and a swale was found to contain hot spots for soil manganese. The source of the Mn was thought to be groundwater discharge, and this area was studied intensively due to its implications for disproportionately affecting headwater stream chemistry. Soils were sampled along a grid pattern; O and B horizon samples were collected and analyzed for dithionite-extractable (total secondary) Mn & Fe, pH, total organic C and N, moisture content, and Cr oxidation potential (indicative of Mn oxide reactivity). The data were spatially interpolated to identify areas of Mn enrichment and other chemical variables related to topography and groundwater discharge. Two hot spots for soil Mn were found: one in a poorly drained, flowing spring and one in a moderately well-drained swale, which had similarly high Mn (6000-9000 mg kg-1 soil). However, the spring soils had high Cr oxidation potential while the nearby swale soils did not, indicating a difference in Mn reactivity. A third location in the study area was a poorly drained seep with water that was not visibly flowing, and these soils had lower quantities of Mn and low Cr oxidation potential. 
    more » « less