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M.M. Reddy

Publications and source records attributed to M.M. Reddy.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1996

Limestone characterization to model damage from acidic precipitation: Effect of pore structure on mass transfer

The pore structure of Salem limestone is investigated, and conclusions regarding the effect of the pore geometry on modeling moisture and contaminant transport are discussed based on thin section petrography, scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and nitrogen adsorption analyses. These investigations are compared to and shown to compliment permeability and capillary pressure measurements for this common building stone. Salem limestone exhibits a bimodal pore size distribution in which the larger pores provide routes for convective mass transfer of contaminants into the material and the smaller pores lead to high surface area adsorption and reaction sites. Relative permeability and capillary pressure measurements of the air/water system indicate that Salem limestone exhibits high capillarity end low effective permeability to water. Based on stone characterization, aqueous diffusion and convection are believed to be the primary transport mechanisms for pollutants in this stone. The extent of contaminant accumulation in the stone depends on the mechanism of partitioning between the aqueous and solid phases. The described characterization techniques and modeling approach can be applied to many systems of interest such as acidic damage to limestone, mass transfer of contaminants in concrete and other porous building materials, and modeling pollutant transport in subsurface moisture zones.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS1995

Computational scheme for the prediction of metal ion binding by a soil fulvic acid

The dissociation and metal ion binding properties of a soil fulvic acid have been characterized. Information thus gained was used to compensate for salt and site heterogeneity effects in metal ion complexation by the fulvic acid. An earlier computational scheme has been modified by incorporating an additional step which improves the accuracy of metal ion speciation estimates. An algorithm is employed for the prediction of metal ion binding by organic acid constituents of natural waters (once the organic acid is characterized in terms of functional group identity and abundance). The approach discussed here, currently used with a spreadsheet program on a personal computer, is conceptually envisaged to be compatible with computer programs available for ion binding by inorganic ligands in natural waters.

Analytica Chimica Acta↗
USGS1994

Specific surface area of a crushed welded tuff before and after aqueous dissolution

Specific surface areas were measured for several reference minerals (anorthoclase, labradorite and augite), welded tuff and stream sediments from Snowshoe Mountain, near Creede, Colorado. Crushed and sieved tuff had an unexpectedly small variation in specific surface area over a range of size fractions. Replicate surface area measurements of the largest and smallest tuff particle size fractions examined (1−0.3mm and<0.212mm) were 2.3 ± 0.2m 2 /g for each size fraction. Reference minerals prepared in the same way as the tuff had smaller specific surface areas than that of the tuff of the same size fraction. Higher than expected tuff specific surface areas appear to be due to porous matrix. Tuff, reacted in solutions with pH values from 2 to 6, had little change in specific surface area in comparison with unreacted tuff. Tuff, reacted with solutions having high acid concentrations (0.1 M hydrochloric acid or sulfuric-hydrofluoric acid), exhibited a marked increase in specific surface area compared to unreacted tuff.

Colorado↗
USGS1994

Welded tuff porosity characterization using mercury intrusion, nitrogen and ethylene glycol monoethyl ether sorption and epifluorescence microscopy

Porosity of welded tuff from Snowshoe Mountain, Colorado, was characterized by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), nitrogen sorption porosimetry, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGME) gas phase sorption and epifluorescence optical microscopy. Crushed tuff of two particle-size fractions (1-0.3 mm and less than 0.212 mm), sawed sections of whole rock and crushed tuff that had been reacted with 0.1 N hydrochloric acid were examined. Average MIP pore diameter values were in the range of 0.01–0.02μm. Intrusion volume was greatest for tuff reacted with 0.1 N hydrochloric acid and least for sawed tuff. Cut rock had the smallest porosity (4.72%) and crushed tuff reacted in hydrochloric acid had the largest porosity (6.56%). Mean pore diameters from nitrogen sorption measurements were 0.0075–0.0187 μm. Nitrogen adsorption pore volumes (from 0.005 to 0.013 cm 3 /g) and porosity values (from 1.34 to 3.21%) were less than the corresponding values obtained by MIP. More than half of the total tuff pore volume was associated with pore diameters < 0.05μm. Vapor sorption of EGME demonstrated that tuff pores contain a clay-like material. Epifluorescence microscopy indicated that connected porosity is heterogeneously distributed within the tuff matix; mineral grains had little porosity. Tuff porosity may have important consequences for contaminant disposal in this host rock.

Applied Geochemistry↗
USGS1994

Assessment of spatial variability of major-ion concentrations and del oxygen-18 values in surface snow, Upper Fremont Glacier, Wyoming, USA

One hundred samples were collected from the surface of the Upper Fremont Glacier at equally spaced intervals defined by an 8,100 m 2 snow grid to assess the significance of lateral variability in major-ion concentrations and del oxygen-18 values. For the major ions, the largest concentration range within the snow grid was sodium (0.5056 mg/l) and the smallest concentration range was sulfate (0.125 mg/l). Del oxygen-18 values showed a range of 7.45 per mil. Comparison of the observed variability of each chemical constituent to the variability expected by measurement error indicated substantial lateral variability within the surface-snow layer. Results of the nested ANOVA indicate most of the variance for every constituent is in the values grouped at the two smaller geographic scales (between 506 m 2 and within 506 m 2 sections). Calcium and sodium concentrations and del oxygen-18 values displayed the largest amount of variance at the largest geographic scale (between 2,025 m 2 sections) within the grid and ranged from 14 to 26 per cent of the total variance. The variance data from the snow grid were used to develop equations to evaluate the significance of both positive and negative concentration/value peaks of nitrate and del oxygen-18 with depth, in a 160 m ice core. Solving the equations indicates that both the nitrate and del oxygen-18 ice-core profiles have concentration/value trends that exceed the limits expected from lateral variability. Values of del oxygen-18 in the section from 110-150 m below the surface consistently vary outside the expected limits and possibly represents cooler temperatures during the Little Ice Age from about 1810 to 1725 A.D.

Wyoming↗
USGS1993

The erosion of carbonate stone by acid rain: Laboratory and field investigations

One of the goals of research on the effects of acidic deposition on carbonate stone surfaces is to define the incremental impact of acidic deposition relative to natural weathering processes on the rate of carbonate stone erosion. If rain that impacts carbonate stone surfaces is resident on the surface long enough to approach chemical equilibrium, the incremental effect of hydrogen ion is expected to be small (i.e., 6% for a rain of pH 4.0). Under nonequilibrium (i.e., high flow rate) conditions, kinetic considerations suggest that the incremental effect of hydrogen ion deposition could be quite significant. Field run-off experiments involving the chemical analysis of rain collected from inclined stone slabs have been used to evaluate stone dissolution processes under ambient conditions of wet and dry deposition of acidic species. The stoichiometry of the reaction of stone with hydrogen ion is difficult to define from the field data due to scatter in the data attributed to hydrodynamic effects. Laboratory run-off experiments show that the stoichiometry is best defined by a reaction with H+ in which CO2 is released from the system. The baseline effect caused by water in equilibrium with atmospheric CO2 is identical in the field and in laboratory simulation. The experiments show that the solutions are close enough to equilibrium for the incremental effect of hydrogen ion to be minor (i.e., 24% for marble for a rain of pH 4.0) relative to dissolution due to water and carbonic acid reactions. Stone erosion rates based on physical measurement are approximately double the recession rates that are due to dissolution (estimated from the observed calcium content of the run-off solutions). The difference may reflect the loss of granular material not included in recession estimates based on the run-off data. Neither the field nor the laboratory run-off experiments indicate a pH dependence for the grain-removal process.

Journal of Chemical Education↗
USGS1988

Description and testing of three moisture sensors for measuring surface wetness on carbonate building stones

Three moisture sensors were tested as a means for determining the surface wetness on carbonate building stones exposed to conditions that produce deposition of moisture. A relative-humidity probe, a gypsum-coated circuit grid, and a limestone-block resistor were tested as sensors for determining surface wetness. Sensors were tested under laboratory conditions of constant relative humidity and temperature and also under on-site conditions of variable relative humidity and temperature for eight weeks at Newcomb, NY. Laboratory tests indicated that relative humidity alone did not cause sensors to become saturated with water. However, the rates of drying indicated by the sensors after an initial saturation were inversely related to the relative humidity. On-site testing of the relative-humidity probe and the gypsum-coated ciruit grid indicated that they respond to a diurnal wetting and drying cycle; the limestone-block resistor responded only to rainfall.

Review of Scientific Instruments↗
USGS1986

Authors' reply

No abstract available.

Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyomin↗
USGS1986

Use of the chloride ion in determining hydrologic-basin water budgets - A 3-year case study in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, U.S.A.

Measurement of chloride concentration and water equivalent in precipitation and recharge at a site can be extrapolated to determine available moisture in a nearby basin. This method also may be extrapolated to a basin with similar climatic characteristics if precipitation, vegetation, and topographic data are available. The average accuracy of the total of evaporation, recharge, and runoff (assuming no storage) was about 10% of total precipitation. Soil-moisture measurements indicate the entire 10% error in moisture balance can be attributed to annual changes in storage. Data requirements for the method are considerably less than data requirements for energy-budget methods to determine available moisture. Potential applications of the method to hydrologic problem-solving are: 1. (1) Estimating total available moisture from chloride concentrations in groundwater or surface water or both. 2. (2) Modeling paleoclimate scenarios and evaluating their correctness by comparison with paleo-groundwater chloride concentrations. 3. (3) Providing an independent comparison for water budgets obtained by energy-budget methods. Obviously the method cannot be applied readily to systems with a lithologic source of chloride. Most systems primarily consisting of tuff, intrusive volcanic rock, nonmarine sediments, quartzite, and other metamorphic rocks will be suitable for application of the model.

Colorado↗
USGS1985

Estimates of average major ion concentrations in bulk precipitation at two high-altitude sites near the continental divide in southwestern Colorado

The composition of bulk precipitation from two high-altitude sites, established in 1971 near the Continental Divide in southwestern Colorado, has been monitored by season during the past decade. Calcium ions are the predominant cationic species; sulfate is the major anionic constituent. Bulk precipitation major ion concentrations exhibit log-normal distributions. Representative mean and standard deviation values for the major inorganic ionic species present in bulk precipitation have been calculated for three years of consecutive seasons. Standard deviations for all species, except nitrate, are similar. For two years of data grouped into quarters, deviations from mean values fall well within the plus or minus two standard deviation limit. There does not seem to be a systematic deviation from the mean concentration values, with respect to either ionic component or season.

Colorado↗