Faculty publication: NAS faculty team up for key research, groundwater findings

When NAS faculty members teamed-up for key groundwater research, they discovered minerals that had not previously been found in Northeast Wisconsin. Professors John Luczaj, Michael McIntire and Megan Olson Hunt had an article, “Geochemical Characterization of Trace MVT Mineralization in Paleozoic Sedimentary Rocks of Northeastern Wisconsin, USA,” published recently by Geosciences 2016. The article links bedrock chemistry and groundwater quality in Northeast Wisconsin. The article describes the bulk and trace element chemistry of the rocks, along with a description of the minerals found in the region. Log readers might be familiar with the arsenic problems in parts of Brown, Outagamie, and Winnebago counties that are caused by sulfide minerals, such as pyrite, in the aquifers. “It is these minerals that are responsible for the arsenic problem,” notes Luczaj, “along with other chemical elements. One notable surprise was the discovery of nickel- and cobalt-bearing minerals in the rocks that have implications for dissolved nickel and cobalt, which sometimes accompany arsenic. These minerals had not previously been found in Northeast Wisconsin.” See the abstract.