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Two methods were used to approximate site‐specific biodegradation rates of monoaromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes [BTEX]) dissolved in ground water. Both use data from monitoring wells and the hydrologic properties of the quifer to estimate a biodegradation rate constant that can be used in ground water solute fate and transport models. The first method uses a biologically recalcitrant tracer in the ground water associated with the hydrocarbon plume to normalize changes in concentration of BTEX under anaerobic conditions; attenuation of the tracer is attributed to dilution, sorption, and/or volatilization. Attenuation of BTEX in excess of the attenuation of the tracer is attributed to biodegradation, although other processes may affect the observed rate. The second method assumes that the plume has evolved to a dynamic steady‐state equilibrium. A one‐dimensional analytical solution to the advection‐dispersion equation is used to extract the rate of attenuation that would be necessary to produce a steady‐state plume of the configuration found at the site. Attention is attributed largely to biodegradation bacause the analytical solution removes the effects of sorption and dispersion and volatilization is assumed to be minimal. Neither method fully accounts for the effects of continuing dissolution of BTEX in the source area or nonlinear sorption. Therefore, the rats cannot be attributed fully to biodegradation, but still are useful for ground water contaminant fate and transport modeling. The methods were applied to a data set from a JP‐4 jet fuel spill at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. In estimats along two seprate flow paths, natural attenuation rates for BTEX ranged form 0.006 to 0.038 day−1, with most rates near 0.02 day−1. The rate for benzene ranged from 0.025 to 0.038 day−1. The rates of attenuation of individual BTEX compounds as estimated by the two methods were in close aggrement. For an individual compound, the rate estimated using the second method was at most 36 percent greater than, but usually within 20 percent of, the rate estimated using the first method, suggesting that intrinsic bioremediation was the dominant process that attenuated BTEX.

Benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX) dissolved into ground water and migrated from a light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) source in a sandy aquifer near a petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) facility at Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah. Field observations indicated that microbially mediated BTEX degradation using multiple terminal electron-accepting processes including aerobic respiration, denitrification, Fe(III) reduction, sulfate reduction, and methanogenesis has occurred in the aquifer. To study the transport and transformation of dissolved BTEX compounds under natural conditions, a reactive flow and transport model incorporating biochemical multispecies interactions and BTEX was developed. The BTEX, oxygen, nitrate, Fe(II), sulfate, and methane plumes calculated by the model agree reasonably well with field observations. The first-order biodegradation rate constants, estimated based on model calibration are 0.051, 0.031, 0.005, 0.004, and 0.002 day(-1) for aerobic respiration, denitrification, Fe(III), sulfate reduction, and methanogenesis, respectively. The results of a sensitivity analysis show that the saturated aquifer thickness, hydraulic conductivity, and reaction rate constants are the most critical parameters controlling the natural attenuation of BTEX at this site. The hydraulic conductivity and aquifer thickness were found to be the key factors affecting the restoration of oxygen, nitrate, and sulfate after their interaction with the BTEX plume. The multispecies reactive transport modeling effort, describing BTEX degradation mediated by multiple electron-accepting processes, represents one of the few attempts to date to quantify a complete sequence of natural attenuation processes with a detailed field data set. Because the case study is representative of many petroleum-product contaminated sites, the results and insights obtained from this study are of general interest and relevance to other fuel-hydrocarbon natural attenuation sites.

Bacteria that degrade natural organic matter in groundwater contain oxygenase enzymes that can co‐oxidize trichloroethene (TCE). This degradation pathway is promising for large dilute plumes, but its evaluation is limited because the density of the bacteria with oxygenase enzymes has not been correlated to field scale rates of degradation. A 14C–TCE assay was developed to determine pseudo first‐order rate constants for the aerobic co‐oxidation of TCE in groundwater. The assay involved incubating 14C–TCE in samples of groundwater contained in 160 mL serum bottles, and monitoring the accumulation of radiolabel in degradation products. A first‐order rate constant for co‐oxidation was extracted from the rate of accumulation of 14C in products, accounting for volumetric changes in the serum bottles due to sampling and subsequent changes to the distribution of TCE between the aqueous and gaseous phases. Of the groundwater samples evaluated from 19 wells at five sites, eight samples at three sites had 14C product accumulation rates that exceeded the accumulation rate in filter‐sterilized groundwater controls. First‐order rate constants ranged from 2.65 to 0.0066 year−1, which is equivalent to half‐lives of 0.26 to 105 years. Groundwater samples from a few of the wells in which co‐oxidation occurred had volatile organic contaminants in addition to TCE; their presence may have induced the oxygenase enzymes that are needed for TCE co‐oxidation. 14CO2 represented ~37% to 97% of the 14C products that accumulated; the balance of the products was soluble and non‐volatile.

Magnetite is a natural component of many aquifers. Abiotic degradation of chlorinated solvents by magnetite can be an important mechanism for natural attenuation of these contaminants. The quantity of magnetite in aquifer materials can be estimated by measuring the magnetic susceptibility of the materials. This is most commonly done by determining the magnetic susceptibility of core samples in an analytical laboratory using a magnetic susceptibility meter. Unfortunately, the cost of acquiring core samples often makes an evaluation of abiotic degradation by magnetite economically unrealistic. Downhole sondes (probes) are available for the determination of magnetic susceptibility. In this study, a downhole sonde was evaluated as an affordable alternative to acquiring and analyzing core samples. The sonde was introduced into 10 monitoring wells. The data from the sonde were then compared to data from core samples that were collected from the same elevation as the sonde data. The core samples analyzed in the laboratory were used as the standard against which the sonde data were compared. The downhole sonde reported values that were similar to values reported on core samples. At most wells, the means of the two measurements could not be distinguished at the 95% confidence interval. When the means could be distinguished, they still agreed within a factor of two.