School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Queens College, City University of New York
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Field Study Areas
Hun Bok Jung
Office:SB D-205
Telephone: 718-997-3306
My research focuses on the mobilization, transport, and fate of groundwater arsenic in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Maine, USA. A rapid increase in installation of domestic wells in South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Cambodia over the past couple of decades have brought about a tragic situation in which hundreds of millions of people are drinking groundwater contaminated by an elevated level of arsenic, which can cause various health problems such as skin cancer or bladder cancer.
In the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna flood plain, several studies have been conducted on the fate of arsenic at the point of groundwater discharge to major rivers such as the Brahmaputra River and the Meghna River, while numerous studies have been devoted to investigate the mobilization mechanism of groundwater arsenic. Recent study by our research group discovered the arsenic enrichment (> 100 mg/kg) in sandy sediment along Meghna Riverbank in regional scale. This enrichment of arsenic is attributed to immobilization of groundwater arsenic by a natural reactive barrier formed at the redox interface between oxic river water and anoxic groundwater.
My research leads to better understanding of the immobilization mechanism of groundwater As, the spatial extent of natural reactive barrier, and the role of riverbank sediment in recycling of groundwater As and providing a potential source of As in GBMD aquifer by geochemical and hydrological methods. In addition, immobilization of groundwater As is investigated for the Red River Bank sediment in Vietnam in comparison with the Meghna and Brahmaputra River Bank sediments, Banlgadesh.
In Maine, USA, domestic wells tapping fractured rock have been found to contain elevated arsenic. Recent study on ~800 groundwater samples collected from Greater Augusta by our research group found that over 30% of domestic wells are contaminated by arsenic greater than 10 mg/L. The spatial distribution of elevated groundwater arsenic and relationship with bedrock geology, and eventually mobilization mechanism, are investigated.
Selected Publications
Jung, H.B. and Zheng, Y, 2006. Enhanced recovery of arsenite sorbed onto synthetic oxides by L-ascorbic acid addition to phosphate solution: calibrating a sequential leaching method for the speciation analysis of arsenic in natural samples. WATER RESEARCH 40 (11): 2168-2180.
Jung, H.B., Yun S.T., Kim, S.O., Jung, M.C., So, C.S., Koh, Y.K., 2006. In-situ electrochemical measurements of total concentration and speciation of heavy metals in acid mine drainage (AMD): assessment of the use of anodic stripping voltammetry. ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY AND HEALTH 28 (3): 283-296
Keimowitz, A.R., Zheng, Y., Chillrud, S.N., Mailloux, B., Jung, H.B., Stute, M., Simpson, H.J., 2005. Arsenic redistribution between sediments and water near a highly contaminated source. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 39 (22): 8606-8613
Jung, H.B., Yun, S.T., Mayer, B., Kim, S.O., Park, S.S., Lee, P.K., 2005. Transport and sediment-water partitioning of trace metals in acid mine drainage: an example from the abandoned Kwangyang Au-Ag mine area, South Korea. ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY 48 (4-5): 437-449
Yun, S.T., Jung, H.B., So, C.S., 2001. Transport, fate and speciation of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd) in mine drainage: Geochemical modeling and anodic stripping voltammetric analysis. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 22 (7): 749-770
Qiang Yang
Office: SB D-205
Telephone: (718)997-3306
I am currently interested in geochemical and hydrogeological patterns of groundwater arsenic transport in bedrock aquifer and upper glacial aquifer, Greater Augusta, Maine, USA (http://superfund.ciesin.columbia.edu). Chronic exposure to As in drinking water has been related with increased health risks of many cancers and diseases, this worldwide problem has become a very important issue in New England where groundwater supplied more than 30% of total freshwater use, high As concentrations of groundwater have been observed in many Maine aquifers. In Greater Augusta, a high percentage of elevated As concentrations, more than US EPA maximum contaminant level 10 µg/L, was found in ~800 domestic bedrock wells. Further work, such as geochemical characteristics, hydrological pattern, geologic units’ effect, mineralogical interpretation, groundwater and As transport models, would be carried out to better understand the arsenic fate in rock-sediment-water system.
Selected publications:
Qiang Yang, Yan Zheng, etc. Geochemical characteristics of groundwater in bedrock aquifer containing arsenic from Greater Augusta, Maine, USA. Under preparation.
