Abstract
Bacteriophage transport was investigated in laboratory column experiments using sandy soil, a controlled field study in a sandy wash, and laboratory experiments using fractured rock. In the soil columns, the phage MS-2 exhibited significant dispersion and was excluded from 35 to 40% of the void volume but did not adsorb. Dispersion in the field was similiar to that observed in the laboratory. The phage f2 was largely excluded from the porous matrix of the two fractured-rock cores studied, coming through 1.2 and 2.0 times later than predicted on the basis of fracture flow alone. Because of matrix diffusion, nonsorbing solutes were retarded by over a factor of three relative to fracture flow. The time for a solute tracer to equilibrate with the porous matrix of 6.5-cm-diameter by 25-cm-long cores was measured in days. Results of both granular-medium and fractured-rock experiments illustrate the inability of a solute tracer to provide estimates for dispersion and effective porosity that are applicable to a colloid. Bacteriophage can be used to better estimate the maximum subsurface transport rate of colloidal contaminants through a porous formation.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- DAVIS J. E., SINSHEIMER R. L. The replication of bacteriophage MS2. 1. Transfer of parental nucleic acid to progeny phage. J Mol Biol. 1963 Mar;6:203–207. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(63)80069-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gerba C. P. Applied and theoretical aspects of virus adsorption to surfaces. Adv Appl Microbiol. 1984;30:133–168. doi: 10.1016/s0065-2164(08)70054-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Goyal S. M., Gerba C. P. Comparative adsorption of human enteroviruses, simian rotavirus, and selected bacteriophages to soils. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1979 Aug;38(2):241–247. doi: 10.1128/aem.38.2.241-247.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hurst C. J., Gerba C. P., Cech I. Effects of environmental variables and soil characteristics on virus survival in soil. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1980 Dec;40(6):1067–1079. doi: 10.1128/aem.40.6.1067-1079.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Yates M. V., Gerba C. P., Kelley L. M. Virus persistence in groundwater. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 Apr;49(4):778–781. doi: 10.1128/aem.49.4.778-781.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]