Contaminant transport refers to the physical and chemical processes governing the movement and fate of pollutants within environmental media such as groundwater, surface water, soil, and the atmosphere. It encompasses advection, dispersion, diffusion, sorption, volatilization, degradation, and transformation reactions that control contaminant distributions and concentrations over space and time. In research, contaminant transport is described by coupled partial differential equations derived from mass conservation, often incorporating multiphase flow, reactive transport, heterogeneity, and scale-dependent parameters. Accurate characterization and modeling of contaminant transport are critical for risk assessment, remediation design, and prediction of long-term contaminant plume evolution in engineered and natural systems.
Beginning in the early 2000s, some of the most common and well-studied PFAS were phased out through a combination of industry shifts and international regulations. A new study from Harvard has found that since that phaseout, ...
Environment
Jan 26, 2026
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The atmosphere is an important transport medium that carries microplastics to even the most remote parts of the world. These microplastics can be inhaled and pose a health risk to humans and animals. They can also settle ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 24, 2026
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A study led by University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography alumnus Jarod Snook, Ph.D., identified a long-term source of PFAS, or "forever chemicals," entering the Pawcatuck River from two historically contaminated ...
Environment
Jan 23, 2026
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Plastic pollution is everywhere—including where you would least expect it, especially when it's in tiny particle form. Today, scientists are working to measure the consequences of this contamination. There's the pollution ...
Environment
Jan 23, 2026
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Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have studied how polymer-coated fertilizer (PCF) applied to fields ends up on beaches and in the sea. They studied PCF deposits on beaches around Japan, finding that only 0.2% ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 19, 2026
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Underground environments like soil and aquifers teem with microbial life. These tiny microbes play a big role in cycling nutrients and breaking down or transforming pollutants. However, scientists still struggle to reliably ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 13, 2026
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Researchers examined the diet and plastic ingestion of green sea turtles inhabiting waters around the Ogasawara Islands, Japan, and detected plastics in 7 of the 10 individuals studied. By integrating genetic, isotopic, and ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 11, 2026
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Over half of the exhaust methane from lunar spacecraft could end up contaminating areas of the moon that might otherwise yield clues about the origins of Earthly life, according to a recent study. The pollution could unfold ...
Astrobiology
Jan 7, 2026
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88
When oily plastic and glass, as well as rubber, washed onto Florida beaches in 2020, a community group shared the mystery online, attracting scientists' attention. Working together, they linked the black residue-coated debris ...
Environment
Jan 7, 2026
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PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are not called "forever chemicals" for nothing. These fluorine-containing organic molecules are difficult to break down and are likely to remain in the environment for ...
Environment
Jan 6, 2026
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