The objective of our sediment capping work is to understand the impact of process (e.g. microbial gas production, groundwater advection), spatial, and temporal uncertainties on the long-term performance of in situ sediment caps.

Sediment caps are considered or implemented as a long term containment (and  treatment) strategy for (diffuse) sediment contaminants.  The challenge from a regulatory perspective is to convince the various stakeholders that the technology performs equally well to contaminant removal, and at a reduced cost.  This project engages microbiologists, surface water hydrologists, modelers (LimnoTech), and technologists to test the process uncertainties at the laboratory scale and extrapolate the results to field settings.

This project, funded by SERDP, leverages the activities undertaken as part of the Anacostia River capping Project (D. Reible, Director). 

Publications are only starting to come out at this point, and are thus limited in scope as of now:

1. 1.Li, M.Y.  2008.  The M-Scale Model: A Multi-Scale Estimation Model for Decision Support of On-Site Remediation.  Dissertation, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
   

2. 2.Li, M.Y. A.M. Michalak, and P. Adriaens.  2008.  M-Scale Model: A Linear Estimation to Reproduce Spatial Variation.  Math. Geol. In Review.
   

3. 3.Li, M.Y., A.M. Michalak, and P. Adriaens.  2008.  Spatial Interpolation of Dioxin Contamination and Reactive Processes in Passaic River Sediments.  Environ. Sci. Technol. In Review.
   

4. 4.Adriaens, P., A. Michalak and M-Y. Li.  2006.  Scaling of Sediment Bioremediation Processes and Applications.  Eng. Life Sci. 6 (3), 217-227.
   

5. 5.Cakir-Kavkar, P. 2008.  Effect of advective flow, pore water transport and ebullition on the stability of capped and uncapped cohesive sediments.  Dissertation, The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.