NIH grant: Tidal-Marsh (Remediation) project (1P42ES036533-01)

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NIH grant 1P42ES036533-01: Tidal-Marsh (Remediation) project
Institute: {'code': 'ES', 'abbreviation': 'NIEHS', 'name': 'National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences', 'admin_org_id': '12500022', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Dana Boyd Barr. Award: $375909.
Start: 2026-07-01T00:00:00.
SUMMARY: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING PROJECT 2 (REMEDIATION; ESE2)
The most significant contamination challenges faced by Brunswick and the Glynn County area is associated with
highly hydrophobic PCBs (from Aroclor 1268), mercury (Hg) and the cancelled pesticide toxaphene. The
presence of these contaminants in the abundant coastal marshes in the area is especially problematic in that
the goal of remediation is detoxification without destruction of the marsh habitat and function. Low impact
remediation that minimizes impacts on the marsh is being attempted that limits active remediation such as
dredging to small areas. Then, the remainder of the most contaminated areas are remediated by thin layer
capping and/or bank stabilization and erosion control. The large tidal range (2 m) in the area plus irregular storms
and hurricanes as well as long-term climate change may limit the long-term effectiveness of these approaches.
Long-term effectiveness may be controlled by the rate and extent of slow (decadal) detoxification processes
such as dechlorination and Hg transformation to low-availability sorbed phases. We propose to evaluate these
long-term processes by examining age-dated sediments with measurement of available and mobile
contaminants through passive sampling. We propose to use a novel passive sampler that can simultaneously
characterize contaminant speciation in the mobile and available water phase, with microbial community structure,
redox and exchange rate indicators, and groundwater upwelling velocities. By coupling contaminant availability
in interstitial water with marsh exchange processes we hope to assess contaminant fluxes in the generally stable
marsh environment and by coupling age with contaminant speciation we hope to be able to quantify long-term
fate and transformation processes. We also seek to connect these long-term fate processes to site- and age-
specific conditions including redox conditions, type of vegetation, and marsh history. We can then employ
laboratory experiments to explore these connections more completely as well as examine amendments such as
zero-valent iron and sulfides that can potentially enhance these processes and be used to improve the
effectiveness of passive remedial approaches. We will work with the local community and our community liaison
to both understand exposure pathways of potential concern and how our findings may attenuate contaminant
exposure along those pathways. We will also use modeling using our industry-standard CapSIM model to both
communicate results relative to long-term exposure and extend the results to similar but quantitatively different
settings.

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