Life and element cycling on Earth is directly related to electron transfer (or redox) reactions. An understanding of biogeochemical redox processes is crucial for predicting and protecting environmental health and can provide new opportunities for engineered remediation strategies. Energy can be released and stored by means of redox reactions via the oxidation of labile organic carbon or inorganic compounds (electron donors) by microorganisms coupled to the reduction of electron acceptors including humic substances, iron-bearing minerals, transition metals, metalloids, and actinides. Environmental redox processes play key roles in the formation and dissolution of mineral phases. Redox cycling of naturally occurring trace elements and their host minerals often controls the release or sequestration of inorganic contaminants. Redox processes control the chemical speciation, bioavailability, toxicity, and mobility of many major and trace elements including Fe, Mn, C, P, N, S, Cr, Cu, Co, As, Sb, Se, Hg, Tc, and U. Redox-active humic substances and mineral surfaces can catalyze the redox transformation and degradation of organic contaminants. In this review article, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of biogeochemical redox processes and their impact on contaminant fate and transport, including future research needs.

Redox transitions of uranium [from U(VI) to U(IV)] in low-temperature sediments govern the mobility of uranium in the environment and the accumulation of uranium in ore bodies, and inform our understanding of Earth's geochemical history. The molecular-scale mechanistic pathways of these transitions determine the U(IV) products formed, thus influencing uranium isotope fractionation, reoxidation, and transport in sediments. Studies that improve our understanding of these pathways have the potential to substantially advance process understanding across a number of earth sciences disciplines. Detailed mechanistic information regarding uranium redox transitions in field sediments is largely nonexistent, owing to the difficulty of directly observing molecular-scale processes in the subsurface and the compositional/physical complexity of subsurface systems. Here, we present results from an in situ study of uranium redox transitions occurring in aquifer sediments under sulfate-reducing conditions. Based on molecular-scale spectroscopic, pore-scale geochemical, and macroscale aqueous evidence, we propose a biotic-abiotic transition pathway in which biomass-hosted mackinawite (FeS) is an electron source to reduce U(VI) to U(IV), which subsequently reacts with biomass to produce monomeric U(IV) species. A species resembling nanoscale uraninite is also present, implying the operation of at least two redox transition pathways. The presence of multiple pathways in low-temperature sediments unifies apparently contrasting prior observations and helps to explain sustained uranium reduction under disparate biogeochemical conditions. These findings have direct implications for our understanding of uranium bioremediation, ore formation, and global geochemical processes. metal reduction | roll front | sulfate reduction | sulfide | bioreduction

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Arsenate [As(V)]-respiring bacteria affect the speciation and mobilization of arsenic in the environment. This can lead to arsenic contamination of drinking water supplies and deleterious consequences for human health. Using molecular genetics, we show that the functional gene for As(V) respiration, arrA, is highly conserved; that it is required for As(V) reduction to arsenite when arsenic is sorbed onto iron minerals; and that it can be used to identify the presence and activity of As(V)-respiring bacteria in arsenic-contaminated iron-rich sediments. The expression of arrA thus can be used to monitor sites in which As(V)-respiring bacteria may be controlling arsenic geochemistry.

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Bacterial reduction of arsenic(V) and iron(III) oxides influences the redox cycling and partitioning of arsenic (As) between solid and aqueous phases in sediment-porewater systems. Two types of anaerobic bacterial incubations were designed to probe the relative order of As(V) and Fe(III) oxide reduction and to measure the effect of adsorbed As species on the rate of iron reduction, using hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) as the iron substrate. In one set of experiments, HFO was pre-equilibrated with As(V) and inoculated with fresh sediment from Haiwee Reservoir (Olancha, CA), an As-impacted field site. The second set of incubations consisted of HFO (without As) and As(III)- and As(V)- equilibrated HFO incubated with Shewanella sp. ANA-3 wild-type (WT) and ANA-3deltaarrA, a mutant unable to produce the respiratory As(V) reductase. Of the two pathways for microbial As(V) reduction (respiration and detoxification), the respiratory pathway was dominant under these experimental conditions. In addition, As(III) adsorbed onto the surface of HFO enhanced the rate of microbial Fe(III) reduction. In the sediment and ANA-3 incubations, As(V) was reduced simultaneously or prior to Fe(III), consistent with thermodynamic calculations based on the chemical conditions of the ANA-3 WT incubations.

Reductive bioremediation is currently being explored as a possible strategy for uranium-contaminated aquifers such as the Old Rifle site (Colorado). The stability of U(IV) phases under oxidizing conditions is key to the performance of this procedure. An in situ method was developed to study oxidative dissolution of biogenic uraninite (UO2), a desirable U(VI) bioreduction product, in the Old Rifle, CO, aquifer under different variable oxygen conditions. Overall uranium loss rates were 50–100 times slower than laboratory rates. After accounting for molecular diffusion through the sample holders, a reactive transport model using laboratory dissolution rates was able to predict overall uranium loss. The presence of biomass further retarded diffusion and oxidation rates. These results confirm the importance of diffusion in controlling in-aquifer U(IV) oxidation rates. Upon retrieval, uraninite was found to be free of U(VI), indicating dissolution occurred via oxidation and removal of surface atoms. Interaction of groundwater solutes such as Ca2+ or silicate with uraninite surfaces also may retard in-aquifer U loss rates. These results indicate that the prolonged stability of U(IV) species in aquifers is strongly influenced by permeability, the presence of bacterial cells and cell exudates, and groundwater geochemistry.

[1] A tracer test was performed at the Rifle Integrated Field Research Challenge site to assess the effect of addition of bicarbonate on U(VI) desorption from contaminated sediments in the aquifer and to compare equilibrium and rate-limited reactive transport model descriptions of mass transfer limitations on desorption. The tracer test consisted of injection of a 37 mM NaHCO 3 solution containing conservative tracers followed by downgradient sampling of groundwater at various elevations and distances from the point of injection. Breakthrough curves show that dissolved U(VI) concentrations increased 1.2-2.6-fold above background levels, resulting from increases in bicarbonate alkalinity (from injectate solution) and Ca concentrations (from cation exchange). In general, more U(VI) was mobilized in shallower zones of the aquifer, where finer-grained sediments and higher solid phase U content were found compared to deeper zones. An equilibrium-based reactive transport model incorporating a laboratory-based surface complexation model derived from the same location predicted the general trends in dissolved U(VI) during the tracer test but greatly overpredicted the concentrations of U(VI), indicating that the system was not at equilibrium. Inclusion of a multirate mass transfer model successfully simulated the nonequilibrium desorption behavior of U(VI). Local sediment properties such as sediment texture (weight percent <2 mm), surface area, cation exchange capacity, and adsorbed U(VI) were heterogeneous at the meter scale, and it was important to incorporate these values into model parameters in order to produce accurate simulations.